The Trouble With Past Lives
by Cloud Dancer1014
Summary: There have been several takes on how Ranma trains Naruto, or how Kushina is really Ranma. None take it as far as this: A month after several so called friends stab him in the back, the NWC try to bring Ranma back. Instead, they get a pissed off Kunoichi.
1. Chapter 1

I am currently in debt up to my eyebrows. If I owned anything other than some clothes and a computer (the former because I won't let anyone touch it, and the later because nobody will touch them), I would have a bit more money. Thus, I do not own Ranma or Naruto.

Please check out the rant at the bottom of this; it will warn you of a few things.

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day in Nerima, though it was anything but normal.

Then again, normal for Nerima usually involved aqua-transsexuals, people turning into animals, extreme martial arts, and martial artists flying through the air at great speeds. Today, none of that was happening. In fact, most of it hadn't happened for the last month . . .

Three weeks ago, one Saotome Ranma, resident aqua-transsexual and chaos magnet, disappeared without a trace. However, given the fact that none of the chaos usually related to him/her went with him, people were starting to doubt the latter label.

It had started out simple enough, but things went downhill fast when several challengers came to challenge the Tendo Dojo. Normally, Ranma would sort them out and send them on their way. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, and the only defender was Tendo Akane, his fiancé and resident mallet wielder.

Mind you, how she could lose to a guy who practiced Martial Arts Ping-Pong is anyone's guess . . .

She wasn't pleased by this, and when Shampoo came around for her usual Airen check-in, Akane tried to take her on.

The resulting loss put her in a permanent bad mood, and everyone at school, including her friends Sayuri and Yuka, made a point to stay away from her for now. Meanwhile, the collateral damage caused by the fights had Tendo Nabiki, Nerima's information mercenary, scrambling to cover the bills. Typically, she could usually count on bribing the causes of the fights to pay up, but as the main culprit was her sister, she was stuck relying on other sources. Also, since Ranma usually did most of the repairs himself, she also had to hire some people to do it for them.

This in turn resulted in her attempting to tighten the budget and to get the two resident slackers to get jobs. Since these slackers included her father, Tendo Soun, and Ranma's father, Saotome Genma, nothing was done. The only concession she was able to get was a promise to cut down on bar runs, and that was only because Tendo Kasumi, resident housekeeper and her older sister, threatened to stop cooking and cleaning.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Amazons were becoming a major annoyance. Shampoo would not use the door, and though they could get Cologne, Shampoo's great grandmother and Chinese Amazon elder, to pay for it, she was savvy enough to pay the minimum price. Then there was Mousse, who kept creating more damage, and for whom they were unable to get Cologne to pick up the bill for on a consistent basis.

Kuonji Ukyo, on the other hand, was a life-saver when she managed to get Saotome Nodoka, Ranma's mother, to help out at her restaurant. However, as Ranma's second legit fiancé, she could not force Nodoka to do this as much as she was, so she tried to pay her. When Nodoka refused it, she sent the paychecks to Nabiki, who was quickly heading towards a breakdown.

Soon, many people in Nerima were eager for Ranma to return, as without him, much of the chaos that came to the area started causing injuries to the residents. Ranma was always ready to take a hit to save someone, but no one else was willing to do that.

However, when a certain sword-wielding idiot started bragging about how he banished the 'demon sorcerer', things started looking grim for everyone.

Apparently, Kuno Tatewaki (resident nut case and kendo nut), Mousse (rival for Shampoo's heart), and Hibiki Ryouga (rival for Akane's heart) had finally managed to beat the mighty Saotome Ranma. It was relatively easy to get the information out of Kuno, and then take the rest out of Mousse, once he was caught, that is.

Using a potent knock out drug, Mousse had managed to put Ranma into a deep sleep. Ryouga, on the other hand, had found some aging mushrooms, and had used them to shrink Ranma down into a five year old, and then used the Chisuiton that he stole from the Musk to lock Ranma into his cursed form, Kuno having been knocked out as well after supplying a magical amulet. Before using it on Ranma, Mousse stepped in and used an Amazonian method of brainwashing, seeing to it that wherever Ranma ended up, he would not remember anything, not even his own name!

Akane wouldn't hear any of it, as she couldn't believe that 'Ryouga-kun' would do anything like that. Everyone else, on the other hand, began hunting for little black piglets. Soon, Ryouga and Mousse had been found, and Cologne began working on a way to bring Ranma back.

What nobody knew at the time, was that things would never be the same again . . .

* * *

In another dimension, a giant, nine tailed fox was attacking Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. While that was going on, however, a young, redheaded woman had just given birth to a blond-haired baby boy. She had fallen asleep before he was taken by her husband, so that they could get rid of the fox.

However, as everyone had left to handle incoming patients, no one was around when an odd light appeared around one Uzumaki Kushina. After a second, the light pulsed and flashed, and then she was gone . . .

* * *

Nabiki couldn't help but sigh. Soon everything would be back to some resemblance of normality by Nerima standards. Soon, her protector would be back . . .

The mercenary girl had spent a small amount of time as Ranma's fiancé for the Tendo agreement, when Akane had given it up. She didn't think it would happen at the time; she had only picked it up as a money making opportunity . . .

She didn't mean to start developing feelings for him . . .

However, it could not last, as she was in no shape to be defending her claim against the other fiancés. So she made a point to drive him away. Even so, the feelings would not go away. She did her best to swallow them for her sister's sake, but even now . . .

She mentally snorted. With how the tomboy was defending 'poor Ryouga-kun' for what he did, she obviously didn't deserve him. Honestly, Ranma may be a thickheaded, misogynistic ass sometimes, but he was also honorable, chivalrous, and actually quite cunning when he used his head. He also had a body to die for, in BOTH forms . . .

Currently, she and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew were in the Nekohanten. Cologne was about to use an ancient ritual that would track Saotome Ranma down and bring him/her back to their dimension. It was a rather complex ritual, and held them up for another week just to get things ready.

Ukyo and Shampoo were sitting on the sidelines as the Elder drew a summoning circle. Akane was sitting away from them, mallet in hand. The only thing keeping her silent was Kasumi, who was standing over her with a frying pan. It had already seen use in threatening off human fountains and pandas.

Mousse, on the other hand, had been shut in the freezer in his cursed form. It was widely known that a pig would be joining him later.

Cologne soon stopped drawing, and started chanting as she walked out of the intricate circle. The circle, after a few seconds, started to glow with an eerie light. As the old woman continued to chant, the light got even brighter. Soon, everyone was hiding their eyes from it. Then, there was a flash, and Cologne immediately stopped her chant.

As everyone's eyes adjusted to the ambient light of the room, they noticed a figure lying in the middle of the circle. As everyone stepped closer, Nabiki noted that it was a girl, about eighteen years of age, wearing what looked like a hospital gown. She had red hair, like Ranma's, but it was long and feminine looking.

Suddenly, the other foot dropped, and everyone started moving and talking at once. The girl was quickly moved to a room, and as the experts tended to the girl, Nabiki had a premonition: things were only going to get worse.

* * *

After an hour, Cologne came back downstairs, where everyone was waiting. As everyone turned their attention to her, she couldn't help but grimace. This wasn't going to be good . . .

She cleared her throat. "The summoning ritual was successful; Saotome Ranma is back with us."

A tumultuous uproar split the air. Ukyo and Shampoo celebrated, as the father's toasted their success with sake. Nodoka and Kasumi sighed in relief, as Akane's mood worsened. Nabiki, however, would not be put off. "Elder, Mousse told us that she was de-aged about ten years by Ryouga. If that is Ranma, why is she older?"

Cologne sighed. "Apparently, the dimension she was placed into has a different time flow than our dimension. I have checked Ranma's apparent age; it seems that for every week that passed here, three years passed there."

Chaos reigned for a minute, as everyone reacted to that differently. Finally, Kasumi managed to clear her throat, which was synonymous with a judge calling for order in the court. "Oh my, I hope this won't cause trouble . . ."

"What trouble could occur? My son is back, and soon, the schools will be united!" Genma yodeled.

"The trouble is that Ranma could have had her own life back in the other dimension. She spent twelve years there; for all we know, she may have built her own life there. She may have even been forced to leave it behind." Nabiki said, as a worried look crossed her face.

Before anyone could comment on this, Cologne coughed twice. "I'm afraid Nabiki has made more of a point than she thought." At everyone's look, she sighed, and looked towards the floor. "It appears that we brought Ranma back at an awkward moment; from what her body tells me, she gave birth to a child not long before we summoned her."

Gasps split the air. Soun started bawling as per usual, and Genma's face turned red with fury. Nodoka fainted, as Kasumi gave her typical exclamation. Akane ranted about perverts, and Ukyo and Shampoo took on looks of horror.

As all this happened, Nabiki felt her world crumble at her feet.

* * *

COMING UP: Uzumaki Kushina wakes up, and is not pleased. A duck escapes, and is promptly broken. A pig shows up, and is roasted. A panda hides in the closet, fearing that he is next. And a young mercenary girl who gave up her heart for her family finds that even if Saotome Ranma is dead, there is still something left to admire in Uzumaki Kushina. This and more, coming up in the next chapter.

Follow-up Notice: Yes, there will be mention of yuri happening in this fic. No I will not write it. I have always believed that for someone to love Ranma, they would have to be at least open to the idea of sleeping with both forms, as he isn't going to stop becoming a she any time soon.

And yes, I am planning to bring Nabiki into the Narutoverse. Why? Because my muse has thought up several scenes involving Naruto and her screwing with the minds of shinobi and civilian alike. Kushina would just kill anyone who messed with her son; Nabiki would see to it that their minds are mush.

In other news, I want to formally open the way for a few of my story ideas to find proper owners, as my muse doesn't want to quit running with new ideas. I'm honestly surprised that she's still working on this one. Thus, I ask for anyone interested in my Kaze no Stigma/Ranma cross and my Spring of Drowned Fairy Idea to step up. All petitioners must email me first though, as I want to know who is going to pick them up so that I can keep an eye out for them. Also, I want to make sure they go to a decent writer.

Also, I may be bringing a new project up, and I'd like a bit of feedback. Has anyone ever heard of Shinji Saotome, by mastermage? It wasn't the best written fic I ever read, but I enjoyed the idea of bringing Shinji to Nerima a bit, and then sending him back to Tokyo-3 so that he could cause chaos. Tellimucus Sundance (is the spelling right? I'm not sure . . .) made a sequel for it, and I signed on as beta. Problem is, he lost interest and dropped the story a couple of months ago. I'm bringing it back, but I want to know how much interest this will garner. Let me know, OK?


	2. Chapter 2

If I owned Ranma or Naruto, I would not be in college, gaining more debt, and eating cardboard (hey, it's something, right?).

Why is out so soon? Blame Torchwood's Children of Earth Special. It left my muse in a depression because it totally screwed up what I had planned for my Dr Who/Ranma cross. I still plan on writing and finishing it, but now my timeline is out of whack. So when my muse decided that it wanted to work on this, I decided to let it have its way.

Speaking of which, can somebody give me a decent timeline for when Kurenai took over training Yakumo Kurama? I plan on making a minor harem for Naruto in this story, and I don't really like how fate dealt her hand. That, and adding her to the main cast early would cause quite a bit of chaos, don't you think?

Will someone please take note of the bottom sections of these chapters? I have pertinent info down there. For example, the last one advertised two story ideas that I want to give away. For more info, please look at my profile.

* * *

When Uzumaki Kushina awoke, she knew two things: that something was seriously wrong, and that someone was going to pay.

In the Elemental Nations, the electricity was supplied by numerous chakra generators that had been built. Seals converted energy from the sun, the wind, and the rain to create energy similar to lightning chakra. Thus, a high level shinobi could immediately sense the electricity in a building. In fact, the electricians that civilians used all had specialized training in using chakra and, more specifically, lightning chakra.

The problem was, the electricity in the building was not chakra related.

Kushina opened her eyes and her energy senses. The room she was in was modern, but had several items that had a more rural, almost primitive nature to them. On a chair next to her was a set of Chinese style martial arts clothing. Downstairs, several high level energy signals tickled her senses.

A heavy weight was felt in her chest, as she realized where she was, and what she couldn't sense . . .

She couldn't sense her son . . .

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T RESTORE THE BOY'S MEMORIES?!?" Saotome Genma demanded.

Cologne looked on, nonplussed. "Son-in-Law's ki pathways have changed drastically while he was away. While most of his pressure points have remained the same, anything related to his ki, including the shiatsu points related to curing the XI Fang Xiao (Memory Loss Shiatsu Technique), have been altered."

"So? Just hit the boy on the head! That fixed him before, didn't it?" Tendo Soun supplied.

The unsheathing of a sword silenced both of them, as Saotome Nodoka glared at the men. She then looked at Cologne. "Are you sure that there isn't a way to get my manly son back? Or at least bring my grandbaby here?"

Cologne sighed. The moment she had finished examining Ranma after his return, she knew that there would be problems. For one thing, she knew nothing about the energy that flooded his female form.

For another, the very fact that she separated a mother from her child caused her a deep pain. There was no greater sin, in her opinion, than to do such a thing. And the other Elders . . .

The other Elders of the Chinese Amazons wouldn't care at all, as long as they got Ranma's genetics into their gene pools . . .

"WAH!!! NOW THE FAMILIES WILL NEVER BE JOINED!!!"

"Don't worry old friend, as soon as the boy wakes up, we will bash his head in until he remembers, and then Ranma and Akane can be wed!"

"RANMA!!!"

"The boy you speak of is long dead."

The quiet sound of a female voice split through the argument like a knife. As the adults in the room turned towards the stairs, they found the girl they believed to be Saotome Ranma standing there, wearing one of Shampoo's Chinese dresses.

As the girl walked towards them, Cologne noted how she moved. Ranma moved like a fighter: confident and powerful. However, she had never walked with the deadly grace and poise that this woman walked with. This was no real fighter . . .

This was a blooded warrior.

"STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS BOY AND . . ."

"WAH! MY DAUGHTERS WILL NEVER BE MARRIED . . ."

"Now son . . . "

Suddenly, an immense killing intent filled the room. Genma soiled himself, Soun fainted, and Nodoka froze, mouth hanging open.

Cologne, as she did not have the KI sent her way, nodded, and asked "What do you mean, he is long dead? Forgive me for asking this, but aren't you he?

The killing intent stopped, and the girl turned her gaze to the Elder. "Saotome Ranma died over twelve years ago, after being stabbed in the back by a myopic duck, a wandering pig, and a crazed samurai. My name is Uzumaki Kushina, jonin of Konohagakure."

Cologne cocked her head to the side. "It seems that you have at least a partial recall of what happened . . . "

Kushina shook her head and sighed. She picked up a cup of tea that had been set aside not long ago, and said "For me to remember, I would have to be Saotome Ranma. However, I am not him. I have his memories, and nothing more."

As Genma opened his mouth to retort, a quick blur flew by his neck. Looking back, he found a small knife sticking into the wall. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that the knife had opened a small cut where it had passed him by. He returned his gaze to Kushina, to find her holding another one.

"If Panda-san dares to open his mouth again, the next one won't miss." Again, her gaze turned to Cologne. "Now, about returning me to where I come from . . . " Suddenly, her body stiffened, as she felt unable to move.

"Cologne sighed again. "The problem with that Son in . . . my dear, is that in order to bring you here, I had to use some items that belonged to other members of the council. They want nothing more than your blood to be part of the tribe. They don't care about anything else. If I send you back, things will not be pretty for me or Shampoo . . . "

"I apologize for this, but you are going to have to stay here for now."

As Cologne looked up at Kushina's face, she was expecting to see rage, frustration, or hatred. She was not expecting for the girl to be looking at her with a face full of . . . amusement.

"I guess I should make a point to be far worse than the Elders then."

She then winked at the stunned old woman, and then . . .

POOF

. . . Disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

The real Uzumaki Kushina blinked as the memories of her kage bunshin filtered into her mind.

The old ghoul looked almost apologetic, as if she wished that she could send her home. She also noted that the Elder had not stated anything about whether or not it was possible to go back.

Kushina scowled at the memory. While she knew that the Elder would only need a little bit of . . . convincing . . . to send her back, the possibility of it actually being done was unknown.

She would get back though. There was no doubt in her mind that she would do it.

She knew what Minato had been planning on doing, and while her husband always had faith in the people of Konoha, she couldn't really say the same for herself.

The problem was that she needed information, and the only one who could give her that . . .

Kushina sighed, as she continued roof hopping towards the Tendo Dojo, wearing nothing but a bed sheet wrapped around her body.

* * *

While Kushina escaped, and the adults at the Nekohanten panicked, nobody noticed the open freezer door, nor did they notice a fleeing duck . . .

* * *

Tendo Nabiki walked upstairs slowly, lost in her thoughts. Call it women's intuition, but she knew that things would never return to normal, despite the fact that Cologne claimed to have brought Ranma back. Worse, her business ventures were drying up, and the only way to make more money would be to sell what little bit of her soul was left . . . or sell her body.

She entered her room, closed the door, and then turned around to find a blue eyes staring back at her. Suddenly, she was pressed against the door.

"I need some questions answered, and you are going to answer them for me"

"R- . . . Ranma?" Nabiki squeaked.

The redhead in front of her smiled softly. "Saotome Ranma died over twelve years ago, or at least he did to me. My name is Uzumaki Kushina, and I want answers, now!"

Nabiki's heart wrenched at those words, but she clamped down on it as she put forth her business face. "You're not the only one here with questions. How 'bout a deal? I'll answer some of your questions if you answer some of mine?"

Kushina stared at Nabiki's passive face, and then stepped back, allowing her to move towards the bed.

"How long have I been here?"

Nabiki sat down and replied, "Cologne brought you here a little over two days ago. You've been unconscious since then. What do you mean, Ranma died? Cologne said that your bioenergy signals match perfectly?"

The smile reappeared on Kushina's face as she answered, "Saotome Ranma was stabbed in the back, brain washed, and sent away. I was found lying in the forest near a village, and a shinobi clan adopted me as their daughter. I've lived ten years before his memories came back. The problem is, my life has been far better than his life. Why anyone would want to live it, I have no idea. Thus, Ranma is dead. How long ago was it that he disappeared from this plane?"

Nabiki blinked as she absorbed this information. "About a month ago . . . wait, are you saying that you were Ranma, but you are Kushina now because Ranma's life sucked?"

This time, it was Kushina's turn to blink. "Well, that's one way of putting it. I spent ten years being raised as Kushina. When his memories were revealed to me, I had already become what I am." She then shrugged. "Besides, I like being Kushina better than he liked being Ranma. Why would I go back to being him?"

Nabiki stared at her for a moment, and then sagged into herself. "Good point . . . wait a minute, what do you mean, shinobi village?"

"The world where I awoke for the first time had five major powers: Hi no Kuni, Mizu no Kuni, Kaminari no Kuni, Tsuchi no Kuni, and Kaze no Kuni. Each had their own Hidden Ninja Village, with many more scattered around the continent. I landed near Uzugakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. The Uzumaki clan adapted me, and I started training to be a kunoichi soon after that."

A sad look entered Nabiki's eye. "So we did take you away from your family . . ."

"Yes and no . . . "

"What?"

Kushina sighed. "Two and a half years ago, my time, Uzugakure was invaded and wiped out by Iwagakure. A number of us were sent away from the village before then, to help save the knowledge and wisdom of our clans. I ended up in Konohagakure, the Hidden Village of the Leaves, as the last of my clan."

"But when you came in, Cologne said that you were pregnant . . . "

A glint entered Kushina's eyes. "I thought it was my turn to ask a question?"

"Sorry . . . "

"Don't worry about it. If you must know, when I escaped from my village, I was followed by some Iwa ninja. They would have killed me if it wasn't for Minato and his team."

"Who?"

"Namikaze Minato, one of the premier ninja of Konoha. Ironically, he and I didn't react to well to each other at first, but after a while, well . . . "

Nabiki, her impassive mask still on her face, nodded slowly. "I see. You said this was two years ago, correct? From what you said, you started recalling who you were not long after that. How'd that happen?"

Kushina shrugged. "About five months after I settled down in Konoha, I started having these weird flashbacks. Some names, faces, not much to speak of, but they were worrying. So I ended up going to a friend of mine in the Yamanaka clan. They specialized in techniques that can enter the mind and take over the body of enemies. She entered my mind, and found a ton of sealed memories from Nerima. The thing is, I didn't really feel anything for that life. I like what I am now, thank you very much."

She then sat down beside Nabiki. "So . . . how long have you liked Ranma?"

Nabiki's eyes snapped wide and her body whirled around to face the redheaded kunoichi. "WHAT?!? I . . . uh . . . "

Kushina smirked. "We Shinobi are experts at reading body language. You may be an expert at covering your emotions, but even the best poker faces have their flaws." Her face then softened. "Feel like talking about it?"

"It doesn't really matter much anymore. You said it yourself: Ranma is gone . . . "

"Maybe, but there are still parts of him left." At Nabiki's look, she smiled. "I may not feel much, but there are still impressions that are left concerning how he felt for certain people. He hated yet loved his father; he didn't know what to feel about his mother. He loved your sister, Kasumi, as if she were the sister that he never had." Putting her hand on Nabiki's shoulder, she continued. "And he respected and cared for you more than anyone else in this life."

"What . . . what about Akane? I thought they loved each other . . ."

Kushina gave an unladylike snort that reminded her of the old Ranma. "The most I can compare that to is puppy love. Honestly, with the life his father forced him to live, he never really knew what love was. He never really had a true friend and the ones that he considered friends were all bastards in the end."

"And yet, he respected you. You pushed everything to the side to try to take care of your family; he saw that from the beginning. He may have considered Akane someone special, but haven't you ever noticed when a difficult business deal suddenly turned into an easy thing? Or how he would always seem to pose whenever you tried to sneak in and take pictures of him while he was asleep?"

"You mean . . . he did those things on purpose? And . . . and what about those business deals? I didn't think Saotome was one to make threats like that?"

Kushina laughed. "I don't really think popping up out of nowhere, just out of your site, and giving your clients a death glare was considered a threat by him."

Nabiki's eyes felt wet as she realized all that the muscle head had done for her. Noticing this, Kushina reached over and pulled her into a hug. As Nabiki cried, she started to mumble.

"In the beginning, I never really noticed him. He was just Akane's fiancé to me. But when I took the engagement from me, and we started hanging out more, I realized that there was more to him. He really had a great mind, but couldn't use it for anything other than fighting. He was kind and sweet, but he covered it up with a tough, macho mask. He couldn't really relax when he was around us, or Akane would start to call him a pervert, Genma would moan about how girly and weak he was getting, or Ryouga or someone would just burst through the walls and call for a fight. He couldn't even let his feelings be known, or else the fiancé he picked would get killed by the other two."

She cried even harder. "And when I realized that I was starting to fall for him as well, I couldn't even keep him, or I'd be killed by the fiancé brigade myself! And Akane . . . " Her sobs started calming down. "So I pushed him away, and hid my feelings . . . and now . . . "

"There there. It's alright. You're right; you didn't stand much of a chance with everyone so intent on their own agendas. It's OK . . . " Kushina continued to minister to the sobbing girl. After a few minutes, Nabiki managed to pull herself together, and pulled away, muttering apologies under her breath. Kushina waved it off.

"So what are you going to do now?" The brown haired girl asked the redhead.

"For now, I need to rest and get my strength back up. After that, I'll have to show Cologne that it would be a better idea to send me back, rather than to keep me here."

"Can I help?" At Kushina's confused look, she stated, "I know what it's like to lose your family, what with Mom dying and leaving Dad the way he is. If there is anything I can do to help . . . "

Kushina smiled. "I guess you can be my inside source, but what I plan on doing is not going to be pretty. As a kunoichi, I had to be willing to get my hands bloody. I'll try not to kill anyone if it helps, but there will be no holding back, and I will be crippling a few people."

Nabiki's face paled slightly, but she nodded. "Can I ask you one more thing? Can I . . . can I come with you?" At Kushina's shocked look, she hurried on. "Ever since you left, the money around the house has dried up, and my deals have started going pear shaped. We've been hemorrhaging cash like crazy. We only have enough cash left to keep the house afloat and to get Kasumi into Medical School. I don't even have enough to send me or Akane there."

"And your family?"

Nabiki gave a snort herself, which turned out to sound a bit like a sob. "Dad hasn't been a father to anyone ever since Mom died, and Akane . . . well, I'm not even sure I recognize what she's become. When you left, the Hentai Horde started up for a bit. It stopped for good when Akane sent a few of them to the hospital with critical injuries. I had to pay off a few lawyers to keep from being sued. And she doesn't even care about it! She just muttered something about how they deserved it for being perverts . . . "

"What about Kasumi?"

"I managed to hunt down Doctor Tofu a few days ago. Apparently, he left to try and get his Kasumi induced fits under control. He'll be here in a few days to sweep her off her feet and take her away from this mess."

Kushina nodded, her face conflicted. "I . . . see. I . . . I guess you could come, but I'm not even sure if Konoha is even there anymore." Her voice started to shake as she said, "Where I came from, we have these bijuu, these gigantic beasts that are more chakra than flesh. A week before I was due, the Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox, turned its attention towards Konoha. It was attacking the village when I was giving birth to N-Naruto. I think Minato had an idea of how to get rid of the beast, but . . . "

Kushina halted, and then managed to get her emotions back under control. Nabiki, having realized exactly what she was afraid of, nodded to herself. "I . . . I still want to go with you, if you'll let me."

The auburn haired kunoichi smiled as she wiped her eyes of leftover moisture. "I'd appreciate it. You do know that I'll have to put you through some intense training when we get there. The Elemental Nations isn't a nice place for civilians."

Nabiki sighed, and then nodded resolutely. "If it gets me out of here in one piece, I'll do anything. It's either this, or sell my body to the Yakuza, and besides, I'd rather be sore from exercising in the middle of nowhere than be sold as a sex slave to some perverted bastard." She then turned a fierce gaze onto Kushina. "So, when do we start?"

* * *

_---Four days after Kushina's escape---_

Cologne hobbled down the stairs in a funk. It had been days since Ra . . . since KUSHINA'S escape, and not one trace had been found of her. Honestly it was starting to worry her. And to top it all off, Mousse had done a runner himself. If the boy showed his face here again, there was going to be Peking Duck on the menu soon after.

Suddenly, she felt Mousse's ki signature heading towards her. She turned to the front door, ready to knock the idiot out. What she didn't expect was to see him running through the door, covered in blood, and holding on to the stump of his left arm, which had been cut off at the shoulder.

Cologne stood there, gaping for a second, before her brain took action again. "SHAMPOO! COME QUICKLY!" Hopping over to Mousse, she started hitting pressure points that would halt the flow of blood to the stump. "What happened here? Mousse, talk to me!"

Mousse's eyes were glassy, showing that he was in shock, but he started talking in a haunted tone that sent shivers down her spine. "I was hunting Saotome, now that you brought him back . . . and I found him, except . . . except he was a girl at the time. I jumped to attack, and flung some chains out . . . but they missed, and he did something with his hands . . . Next thing I knew, it felt like that time I accidentally hugged that faulty generator . . . Then, he did something else with his hands, and then . . . then my arm . . .

While Mousse's monologue was stumbling out, Shampoo came running out with a first aid kit. However, she could only hand it over to her Great Grandmother before stopping in shock at what had been done to the boy . . .

As Cologne hastily bandaged Mousse's arm, he turned his head towards her. "He said . . . he said to tell you . . . that until he was sent back, Nerima would run red with blood . . . "

Her blood chilled as she watched Mousse faint. It was a wonder that he had lasted this long.

"Is . . . is Mousse dead?" Shampoo said, having finally found her voice.

"No. He is just unconscious. He's lost quite a bit of blood."

Shampoo swallowed heavily. "Airen . . . Airen not do those things . . . Airen not killer . . . "

"Cologne shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that your airen is long gone."

Shampoo sobbed once, then shook her head wildly. "NO! Airen not gone! Shampoo not believe it!" She then ran out the door, leaving Cologne sitting there to tend to Mousse.

* * *

_---Five days after Kushina's escape---_

Akane worked heavily in the kitchen. Kasumi had vanished just two days ago, when Doctor Tofu reappeared. He had swept her off her feet, and had taken her on a whirlwind date that had left her speechless . . . until he asked her to work for him as a secretary, so that they could continue their relationship at a better place, and so that she could prepare for Medical School.

Unknown to both her and the rest of the family, Nabiki had popped up during this to help Tofu convince Kasumi that it was for the best. After that, Kasumi stayed around long enough to pack her bags and say goodbye, Nabiki already having found an apartment for her near Tofu's new clinic. The radio was on, playing music while the tomboy worked on her latest monstrosity.

Suddenly, the music stopped, and an announcer's voice came on. "This is an important news bulletin. One hour ago, one Hibiki Ryouga was found near Furinkan High School. He was found unconscious, and his entire right side of his body was burnt, as if he were lit on fire. He has since been airlifted to Tokyo General. We ask that all friends and family members please go to check on him. That will be all . . . "

Akane was frozen for a minute, as the report when through her head. Then, tossing the knife in her hand aside, she ran out of the house, crying "I'm coming Ryouga-kun, I'm coming!"

Nabiki, having heard the report in her room, sighed heavily. "So it continues . . . "

* * *

Later that day, unknown to most Nerima residents (though Cologne and Nabiki would soon learn of it though various sources), one Kuno Tatewaki was quietly driven to a mental institute. He had been found in bed, screaming his head off, yelling for the Sorcerer to come back and remove the weevils from his pants. When nothing his sister, Kuno Kodachi, his father, Principal Kuno, and their family ninja, Sasuke, did to quiet him down worked, they had no choice but to send him away.

What no one noticed, as they wheeled him out of the mansion and into an unmarked van, was a redheaded woman, staring impassively at the scene from a nearby rooftop. As they drove away, she nodded once, and then jumped away.

Genjutsus were such useful things . . .

* * *

COMING UP NEXT: Cologne is forced into negotiations, a house is blown up, a panda wets himself in fright, and our heroine and her hanger on return to . . . greener pastures. Later, a young boy will be rescued. Villagers will be slain, and the council of a certain village mimics the panda. Stay Tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

Leave the poor, broke college student alone. He does not own Naruto or Ranma, and he certainly won't be able to pay you.

Flames will be used to heat my dorm room, since my roommate seems to enjoy having it freezing cold twenty four-seven.

I will be putting up a poll soon asking for harem ideas for Gaara. I plan on giving one to Naruto, and Gaara will be coming into this story early one, so I need some ideas for it. Don't ask about Naruto or Kushina. Naruto's harem is already fixed, and Kushina . . . well, just wait and see . . .

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Two days had passed since Ryouga was found burnt, and nothing was going right these days in Nerima. Shampoo had disappeared since then as well. For all that she disliked Mousse's lovesick habits; he was still the closest thing she had to a friend, even in her childhood. Thus, having her airen tear the boy's arm off was making her feel extremely conflicted.

Cologne had no idea when her great-granddaughter would reappear, or if she would come back in one piece.

Akane, on the other hand, spent most of her time at Ryouga's bedside. Over a third of his body was covered in second and third degree burns, and the rest of him wasn't in good shape either.

He also had a habit of flinching whenever a redhead passed by the open door of his hospital room, even if it was a young boy being wheeled by in a wheelchair.

With the way that she was acting, even Soun could tell that she had lost respect for her engagement to Ranma. Genma, on the other hand . . . well, he spent much of his time hiding in Panda form at the dojo, so he didn't notice anything.

The only member of the NWC that hadn't felt the pressure was Ukyo, and even she was nervous. The poor girl was one of the few people who realized that all bets were off in this situation. The old Ranma was gone, replaced by someone who had no qualms about causing unnecessary pain. Konatsu, her ninja servant/friend was on high alert.

All of Nerima was under a dark cloud, and no resident wanted this one to rain on them.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A meeting of what was left of the NWC was in session at the Tendo Dojo. Mousse and Ryouga were still in bed, trying to recover from their injuries. Ukyo and Konatsu were still in hiding. Shampoo hadn't come back yet.

"We must use extreme caution in going against son-in-law. From all reports, she has gained far more power than she had before she was sent away and no qualms against using it" Cologne stated.

"Elder, don't you mean he?" asked Nodoka. "After all, he is my manly son . . . isn't he?"

Cologne sighed. "She seems to have developed a female identity in this other world. It would be foolish to refer to her as if she were truly Ranma."

Nabiki couldn't help but roll her eyes at this. This conversation seemed to happen quite a bit, and yet nobody truly realized how bad things were. She was thankful that Kushina was so willing to allow her to go back with her. The only way this family would survive would be if only two people had to survive on what little money that was left and even that wouldn't last long enough, if Saotome Genma had anything to say about it.

The panda waved a sign over his head **Bah! All we need to do is knock him on the head. It worked last time, **_flip _**it will work again this time!**

Suddenly, the sign splintered into pieces! Genma jumped, let out what could have been a Panda Shriek, and then fainted. A yellow puddle seemed to seep out from under it.

In the wall behind him, one of Mousse's kunai was found poking out of the wall, a roll of paper attached to its handle. Cologne, who was the first to recover, hobbled over to it, rolled the paper off it, and opened it. She paled dramatically, and then rushed off without a word.

Nabiki, who had an idea of what was going on, picked the note up from where the Elder had dropped it, and read aloud:

_Dear Cologne:_

_I have your great-granddaughter held captive here. If you don't want her to end up hurt worse than Ryouga, you might want to come to the Kuno mansion for negotiations. Don't worry, it's been emptied of victims already._

_Sincerely, _

_Uzumaki Kushina_

_Jonin of Konohagakure._

The crowd froze, and then, as one, rushed out the door. Only Nabiki was left, shaking her head.

"I only pray that they don't force her hand . . ."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The NWC gathered at the Kuno house in a rush. Cologne was looking everywhere in fright. She felt a strange energy in the area, but no sign of Kushina or Shampoo.

And then . . . she sensed something.

"Well, I guess everyone is here. Time to begin the show."

The redheaded Kunoichi stepped out of thin air, walking with her hands behind her back. She wore black jeans and a black T-shirt, covered by a biker's jacket. Before anyone could speak, she let loose a wave of KI that sent everyone into a mind numbing terror. Since Genma was left behind, Soun was the one that ended up wetting himself and fainting.

Cologne stood her ground. "Where is my great-granddaughter?" WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!?"

Kushina nodded once, and then put her hands into a hand sign. Suddenly, Shampoo appeared. She was bruised, but not hurt too badly.

She was also covered in a unusual series of paper, and hogtied by wire.

Cologne tried to move to her, but Kushina stepped in front of her, shaking her head. "Sorry, Elder, but if you or anyone else takes one more step, I'll be forced to do something . . . rash."

"Yeah, like what, you perverted bastard!" yelled Akane.

"Like this." Another hand sign was made, and the entire Kuno Mansion blew up in a fiery inferno.

As everyone looked on helplessly, Kushina spoke.

"Where I came from, we have many arts. The art of Genjutsu can hide things and drive people mad. The Art of Ninjutsu can cause massive amounts of damage and do many wondrous things. However, it is the art of Fuinjutsu that is the most versatile. Shampoo is covered in Explosion tags, which did what you saw. Imagine what will happen to her when I set those tags off!"

"Ranma, my son! Why are you doing this?!?" yelled out Nodoka.

Kushina shook her head, and in a monotone voice, replied "Ranma is dead. All that I am is Kushina, and all that is left of him are memories. You have taken me from my own child, and I will not stand for it. I am sorry, but I will do whatever it takes to get back to him."

She then turned her gaze to Cologne, and a fire entered her eyes. "Either you vow, by all that is sacred and holy to you and your tribe, to send me back home, or I will see to it that yet another child is lost. It is your call."

Cologne stood there, frozen. Silence reigned for a minute, and then, in whispered tones, she spoke.

"The other Elders will not stop seeking you. There is nothing I can do to change that."

"Then see to it that they will have to come for me. Konoha and the other Hidden Villages are too strong for them to fuck around with, and much less damage can be caused there than here. Send me back, and fix it so that I will never have to come here again, and I will let her go."

Cologne stood there, and then, nodded. "So be it. On my oath as an Amazon Elder, and as a servant of the Mother Goddesses, I promise to send you back."

"When?"

"Give me three days to get everything ready, and then meet me in the Nekohanten. You will be sent back then."

"So be it."

As Kushina turned away, disaster struck.

"WAIT A DAMN MINUTE HERE!" yelled Akane.

Kushina ignored her and continued to walk away, so Akane, in her rage, summoned her mallet and charged.

Suddenly, there was a blur, and Akane was set flying in the opposite direction. Soun, who had just recently woken up, yelped and ran to catch her. He did so, and then smashed into a tree.

Everyone stood there in shock . . . at least, everyone except for Kushina, who had turned back around.

"She'll be fine, but her nervous system has been reset. If you want the secret to fixing her, then don't double cross me. Otherwise, she will never be a fighter again." Then she vanished.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Nabiki lied on her bed, waiting for the others to come back. After a second, she spoke. "You know, it would be considered polite to knock."

Kushina materialized out of thin air again. "So I guess that genjutsu sensing technique worked, eh?"

They looked at each other in silence, and then Kushina stepped away and moved towards the desk. "Everything went according to plan, but your sister had to have the last word. I used a medical technique that killed her reflexes, so in case something goes wrong, I'm leaving the cure here for Cologne to read."

"When are we leaving?"

"Three days."

Nabiki nodded once. "Thanks for letting me come with you."

"As long as you're willing to train for your own protection, and help me with Naruto, I'll be happy." Turning around, she smirked. "You do know that I am going to up your physical training when we get back to my world, right?"

Nabiki nodded solemnly. "Training to fight is better than training to become a whore, which is what I'd end up doing if I stayed here. The Yakuza only stayed away because Ranma was willing to beat up their thugs whenever they entered the area. That won't last much longer."

They stood in silence once more, and then Kushina nodded once, and then turned away. "See you in three days."

She then disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_Three days later . . . _

Cologne paced back and forth. Shampoo hadn't come out of her room since her rescue, and she hadn't eaten anything either. Soun and Genma, on the other hand, were staking out her restaurant, waiting to catch Kushina.

It was times like these where she actually wished Happosai was back in town . . .

Akane was stuck in the hospital, and was unable to defend herself from the male classmates who came to wish her well. They had heard that Ranma was gone, and thought they had a chance at her.

She was going to be in a world of hell, if she didn't get cured.

Suddenly, a shimmer appeared in front of her, and Kushina and Nabiki appeared. As Cologne raised an eyebrow, Kushina shrugged.

"She wanted to come, and she had a decent reason for it."

Nabiki nodded. "Our finances are so bad right now; it was either I do this, or sell myself to the Yakuza as a whore."

Cologne blinked, and then grinned. "I assume that is why Kasumi left in such a rush when her Doctor came for her?"

Both girls shrugged and grinned. The old women sighed. "I have everything ready to go. Follow me, please."

She led them into another room, where a magic circle was drawn on the floor. Cologne directed them into the center of the circle, and then asked "I assume that you might have something of your husband on you, that may help us guide you in? Your wedding ring would do, though you won't be able to take it with you."

Kushina hesitated for a minute, and then nodded. She reached under her shirt and pulled a silver chain out of it, a gold ring hanging off of it. She handed it to Cologne.

Cologne took it into her hands, and then started to chant. The ring glowed brightly, and after a few seconds, the glow transferred to the circle. Winds started to pick up around them, and the light grew brighter . . .

Just before the light reached its zenith, the door burst open, allowing the two girls to see Soun, Genma, and a crying Nodoka . . .

And then, they were gone.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_Over six years after the Kyubi attack . . ._

Two cloaked figures walked the path towards Konoha. Having appeared three months ago, in the middle of Tsuchi no Kuni, the two had immediately gone underground. As Kushina was well known in the war between Iwa and Konoha, she was unable to do much in the way of shinobi travel. She had, on the other hand, a great chance to teach Nabiki the basics.

Nabiki had picked up the art of Chakra molding quite well. She knew enough about ki to make it work, and Kushina, after she had assimilated the memories of her past self, had developed several exercises to make the transition. All in all, with the training that she was given, Nabiki was easily at a low genin level.

Kushina, on the other hand, had only recently recovered from her pregnancy. Her shinobi skill set had come back to her, and after seeing her in action, Nabiki could easily see why she wasn't worried about taking on several Amazon elders should they come for her.

Hell, compared to Kushina, Ranma was barely at chunin level . . .

Nabiki winced slightly as she moved forward. The spar they had last night had left a few bruises on her, but after the last couple of weeks, the pain wasn't anything to complain about. Besides, she was in a hundred times more pain after they had started sparing when they got here. If it wasn't for those massages, she might have not been able to move much at all!

_Flashback: three months ago . . ._

Nabiki groaned as Kushina kneaded and massaged aching muscles. The workout today was extreme, and Nabiki had never been in this much pain in her life, but Kushina seemed to be a master of both pain and pleasure.

"For someone who only worked out to keep her form, you're pretty decent in a fight. Mind you, until you learn how to manipulate chakra, you are going to continue feeling like crap." Kushina remarked.

"Yeah well, I just have to pick up on that soon then! Not like I have much to distract me here . . . " Nabiki replied, somewhat wistfully.

Silence reigned for a minute, and then, in a low tone, Kushina asked "Do you regret coming with me?"

Nabiki hesitated for a second, and then sighed. "I would have been forced to leave home anyways; this was the best choice for me. It's just that . . . I just realized that there isn't much left from my old life. Kasumi has a chance at happiness. Akane and Daddy are too far gone to care, and everything I've ever known is now unfamiliar to me . . .

"And . . . "

Nabiki sighed again. "I gave up on the only person who I had ever developed feelings for for the good of the family, and now he's gone. I . . . I fear that I may never have that chance again . . .

Kushina sighed and smiled wistfully. "You know, I thought that once too . . . "

"You did?"

"Uh-huh. I met my first love back in Uzugakure, a few years before its destruction. We were best friends, and soon, we became more . . . "

"What happened?"

"She died in a mission about a year and a half before Uzu fell."

"I'm sorry . . . wait." Nabiki turned around to face the redheaded kunoichi. "Did you say 'she'?"

Kushina smiled at the girl. "As shinobi, we must understand that our lives may or may not last that long. Our lives are constantly at risk, and we must be willing to do what we must to live. While civilians may have issues with such relationships, veteran shinobi are lucky to find someone who they can trust, and who is willing to care for them when they are at their weakest."

Her smile then turned wistful. "As shinobi, to find that kind of love is rare. Therefore, we only have two choices. We can either ignore those feelings and try to find it in a form that matches what civilian society finds normal, or we can take a chance at happiness, no matter what form it may be in."

"My first love was a woman. My second was a man. Gender doesn't matter much to me; what matters is the person who is inside."

_End Flashback_

Nabiki couldn't help but remember that conversation. If Akane had subscribed to that philosophy, would there have been so many problems back then?

Could she subscribe to that philosophy?

As they neared the village, Kushina gave her a hand signal, and both girls fell into a run towards one side of the road. They left the road, and headed towards a rock in the middle of a field.

"I've probably been marked down as dead since my disappearance, and I'd rather not go through an interrogation, so we can't go through the main door." Biting her hand, she smeared a bit of blood onto the rock, and they watched as a tunnel opened up in front of them. "Minato and I used to use these tunnels for some of our late night rendezvous. We can get in through here."

She turned to Nabiki. "If we get to Sarutobi-sensei, we can get past that with his voucher."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

He ran.

For six years he had lived like this. The old man and the Ichirakus were the only ones who ever cared for him. Everyone else hated his guts for some reason.

Most nights, he was safe in his apartment, which the Hokage had given him when the orphanage kicked him out at age four. However, there were some nights when he couldn't hide there.

Like tonight.

Sometimes the ANBU would step in and save him before things got too bad. Other times he's see a masked figure joining into the hunt, and assisting the mob in their torture.

Tonight, he had to leap out of the window due to having a firebomb thrown into his apartment. Now, he was fleeing, while trying to dodge rocks, beer bottles, and the occasional kunai. His clothes were burnt, he had blood all over what rags were left, and he wasn't sure how much longer he would last.

Suddenly, having turned a corner, he ran into something. This happened to him occasionally. One time, after managing to escape the mob, he ran into a Kumo shinobi who was trying to kidnap a young girl. He had managed to distract him long enough for a Hyuuga to come, most likely the girl's father.

The old man had praised him for it, and the Hyuuga thanked him for the distraction.

Still, these raids continued happening every now and then.

He could hear the mob catching up to him, so he managed to get back up, only to find himself face to face with two older women. The first one, who was standing up, was a brown haired girl, with shoulder length hair. A traveler's cloak was draped over her, preventing him from seeing any weaponry.

The second one, the one he ran into, was a slender redhead, with long, flowing hair. Her build immediately screamed 'high level ninja', but her eyes . . .

Her blue eyes stared at him in a kind of shock-like trance.

As he leapt up to run from the two ladies (he didn't have a good track record when it came to running into people during these nights), the redhead spoke.

It was only a whisper, but the tone of voice it carried, and the word she spoke, stopped him dead cold.

"N . . . Naruto-chan . . . "

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

COMING UP NEXT: The mob learns the true meaning of the word demon from the redheaded devil herself. Sarutobi gets chewed out, the council gets shot the bird, and Naruto's training and healing journey begins. Later, a Tanuki gets sealed, and another redhead joins the fun. Stay tuned!


	4. Chapter 4

Leave the poor, broke college student alone. He does not own Naruto or Ranma, and he certainly won't be able to pay you.

Flames will be used to heat my dorm room, since my roommate seems to enjoy having it freezing cold twenty four-seven.

* * *

Kushina stood there, in mute shock. Her whispered word was immediately picked up by Nabiki though. However, despite the fact that she had seen so much pain and poverty since she came to this world with the redhead, what she saw here was too much!

The poor boy was smaller than he should be, looking more like a four year old rather than a seven year old. His blond hair and tattered clothing was covered with so much blood, a grown ninja would be nearly dead!

But those eyes . . . those eyes were so Kushina . . . so like Ranma's eyes once were . . .

As they stood there in mute shock, a group of civilians turned the corner and ran up. Nabiki immediately analyzed the situations, and noticed a few blank masked ninja among them.

Kushina and Naruto, on the other hand, kept staring at each other.

An unknown civilian marched up, ranting "Heh, sorry 'bout that. The demon bastard seems to have no manners." He then reached over to grab Naruto's arm. "We'll get him out of here and see to it that he never bothers anyone again!"

The moment he grabbed Naruto, several things happened. Naruto flinched and let out a whimper . . . Nabiki grabbed a kunai from her belt . . .

And the civilian immediately flew back at great speed . . .

He crashed into one of the store walls with a mighty snap, and as he fell, limp and lifeless, the rest of the mob was treated with an intense killing intent that made several women in the group faint, and gave several of the older civilians a heart attack.

Kushina stood in front of the ex-mercenary girl and the young boy, eyes cold and merciless and a growl emanating from her throat. Glancing back once, she intoned "Get Naruto out of there. Kill anyone who gets near, until I get back." She then looked back at the mob, and the killing intent worsened. "No one attacks MY SON, and gets away with it . . . "

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen and several ANBU nin appeared on the scene ten minutes later, to find a scene almost out of the Third Ninja War. Civilians were either unconscious, moaning in pain, or in rare cases, dead. Several ninjas who wore masks that marked him as members of Ne lay scattered around the street, all of them dead and somewhat dismembered.

At the far end of the street, he could see three figures still standing, one of them a small child. A flash of blond hair caught his eye, and he relaxed just a bit. However, when they moved to get closer, the two taller figures tensed, as if preparing to fight or flee.

As they got closer, Sarutobi could see that both were obviously kunoichi without hitai-ites. One of them, who had short, brown hair, was bandaging the unconscious blond, who looked as if he had been crying.

The other, covered in blood that was obviously not her own, stood in front of them in a protective stance. As he got even closer to speak, she suddenly tensed. A rising killing intent condensed in the air, and the ANBU readied themselves for a skirmish. However, before Sarutobi himself could even think of preparing for battle, she spoke.

"Sarutobi-sensei, long time no see. It seems we have much to talk about . . . "

Sarutobi's eyes widened. He knew that voice! As the kunoichi stepped closer, his eyes glanced at the long red hair that flowed off her head, and then settled at those blue eyes . . . filled with righteous anger and promised of pain. His gasp caught all of the other ninja in mute surprise.

"K . . . Kushina . . . "

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage pleaded and bargained with the redhead. They had moved back to his office after sending his ANBU to clean up the mess she had created. Her new apprentice, as Kushina had introduced her, kept tending to Naruto, who had succumbed to unconsciousness not long after being rescued from the mob. Kushina, on the other hand, was on a roll, causing Sarutobi to recall why she was one of the few females who utterly terrified him on a daily basis.

"Well? Are you going to answer me? What the hell is going on?!? Where is Minato? Why does Naruto have to flee from civilians? Why aren't you doing something about it? And why the HELL are they calling him a demon?"

The man sighed. "You know, you could answer some of my questions as well. What happened to you? We had thought that you had died in the Kyuubi attack, but couldn't find a body. Now, here you are, just as young as you were seven years ago, and with an apprentice to boot!"

Kushina's scowl deepened. "You remember all those weird memories that Yamanaka Inoichi found hidden in my head?"

He blinked. "Yeah, I remember those. Inoichi and Shikaku are still arguing the logistics of some of the stuff he saw there."

"Well, apparently, some of them weren't willing to let go of a dead man."

Sarutobi's face sunk into a grim face. "So, they found a way to drag you back, did they?"

She nodded. "Yeah, and it seems that time between here and there runs differently. I was only there for about two weeks, and I only got back a couple of months ago, in the heart of Iwa. I got back here as soon as I could."

"And her?" Sarutobi gestured to Nabiki.

"She's from that world. Apparently, life took a downturn for her after I vanished there. It was either come with me, or risk being indebted to the Yakuza, a type of underground clan that runs a lot of the black and red markets in that world. It was either she escapes into a world where she could eventually learn how to survive, or join the ranks of their prostitutes. I may be a bitch, but I'm not the type of person who could just leave someone to that fate."

She then shifted her hands to her hips. "Now, are you going to talk, or what?"

Sarutobi winced. "Seven years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked, we tried everything to get rid of it, but the fox wouldn't relent. Minato had to use . . . that jutsu in order to get rid of it."

Kushina tensed, and her face paled. "What . . . he . . . he wouldn't . . . but . . . " Her face then turned even paler as she thought about the connotations.

"Kushina . . . Naruto isn't . . .

"I know that!" Kushina snapped at the man. "That summoning technique came from Uzu with me. I know quite well what it does, and what this means. But the thought of him doing this to his own son . . . does he even know? Does Naruto . . . "

Sarutobi shook his head. "I have chosen to keep this secret from him until he could handle it. His legacy, on the other hand, I have decided to keep that from him until he is old enough to defend himself from those who would come after him."

"So let me get this straight: You haven't even told him about US?!? Minato and I?!?"

Sarutobi flinched. "You know as well as I do how many enemies you made in the last war. If word got out about him, he would be dead within a month . . . "

"So?!? The Hyuugas and Uchihas have to deal with that all the time! You know how close Hyuuga Hikari and I was, you could have left him with her, or Jaraiya, or Rin or . . . " She took notice of his doubled wince, and her eyes lit on fire. "Do they even know?!?"

"I told them that there were complications in the birth . . . I had to protect him from becoming a political target!"

"SO YOU LET HIM BECOME A LITERAL ONE?!?" She roared.

"I created a law to prevent anyone from talking about it, and I label anyone who is caught attacking him a security risk. I'd do more but the council has gained enough power to subvert most of it! I . . ."

"You obviously don't know much about people then, do you? Did you honestly THINK that any of that would HELP?!?

Someone knocked on the door, and Sarutobi immediately took this as a chance to get a small reprieve. The messenger nin at the door blinked at the harried Hokage answering his own door.

"Sir, the council requests your presence in the council room at once."

"So, the position of Hokage has fallen so far that you have to answer to the demands of the civilians now? My, how sad . . ." The redhead snarked.

Sarutobi winced. "I have to go. Please don't do anything irrational while I'm gone . . . "

"I'm claiming him."

"Wh-what?"

"He is my son. I am his mother. If anyone dares to deny me that right, they will be found later in pieces."

Sarutobi paled, and then rushed out of the room, leaving the two women and the boy behind.

* * *

_Dawn of that day . . . _

Sarutobi mentally cursed. The meeting had not started off well. The civilians were in a full blown panic at the fact that two unknown ninja had infiltrated the village and had attacked some of their own.

The fact that it was a kunoichi who was thought dead seven years ago and her apprentice who did the fighting, and that it was In order to protect the demon brat didn't matter to them. They just wanted compensation.

Sarutobi had managed to talk them down a bit, but the fact that she was demanding her parental rights brought even more complications!

Most of the ninja clans knew that Naruto wasn't the fox, but only a few took his side. Most were neutral on issues concerning him, and only the Uchiha (who had been all but massacred a few months ago) and his advisors had issues with him. However, unlike the Civilian Council, most of them knew about Minato and Kushina's relationship. He could just see the gears turning in some of their heads when he announced that Uzumaki Kushina, who had been abducted from the village by enemies of her past, had returned and claimed Naruto as HER CHILD!

Hyuuga Hiashi, Inuzuka Tsume, Akimichi Chouza, Aburame Shibi, and Kurama Unkai all paled within seconds of him announcing this, and he knew that there would be much angry conversation with those four later. Oddly enough, Yamanaka Inoichi and Nara Shikaku just smiled enigmatically. He had always wondered why those two clans (and the Akimichi clan, who tended to follow their lead in most situations), had always sided with Naruto's best interests in mind, even when the other clans balked.

If there was one thing that almost made up for the whole fiasco, it was Danzo's reaction. Just after Kushina arrived and gained Shinobi status in Konoha, he had tried to recruit her for both ninja and breeding issues. When she refused on both accounts, he tried to force things.

It took him several months to recover from the beating he was given. Even then, it took him two years to get over the fact that he was one of a rare group of men who knew how it felt to have a kunai shoved up his ass.

The fact that he had more than one up there at that moment made him truly unique.

The sheer terror on his face told him straight out that he remembered that situation quite well.

He had eventually managed to get them to consider allowing her to reclaim her son, but the civilians insisted on a full identification check, which would take about a month on its own, under Ibiki's watch. However, under Danzo's manipulations, she might never get the opportunity to take up her duties to Naruto!

Finally, he returned back to his office, only to find no Naruto, no Kushina, and no apprentice. Looking around, he found a letter on his desk. He picked it up and read:

_Dear Sarutobi:_

_Just thought you should know, we have decided to take an extended training trip with Naru-chan. Considering how wild I got, I doubt that the Civilian Council would let me be in peace, considering how nasty I was with those bakas earlier. I figured we'd jump the coop, leave for a few years, and then see how you guys felt about it when we come back, with a fully trained and knowledgeable Naruto. Wonder how the Civilian Council will like that . . . _

_Don't bother trying to catch up to us; I found where you hid my summoning contract, and you know how fast they can be. I also made a point to stop by our house for a few things. I think you will be surprised when we come back!_

_Do me a favor when before we get back. Tell the Civilian Council that it would be in their best interests if they give back some of the power they took from you, because when I come back, I may end up mimicking the Tsuchikage, and ending their pathetic reign for good. This is a Ninja Village; they live here by our rules, it is not the other way around._

_Sincerely:_

_Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, Tendo Nabiki, and Namikaze Naruto._

Sarutobi felt the sweat drip down his back. This was going to create a LOT of paperwork and headaches later on.

* * *

Any villager outside of the village would have seen a rather interesting site: Two kunoichi and a young boy were riding on the back of a rather large cat. In fact, it was more like a large tiger. Problem is, by the time they could focus on the sight, they were gone.

Naruto, still asleep, sat in front of Kushina, who was being clutched by a rather frightened Nabiki. This wasn't what she had in mind when she signed on for this.

"Um, Kushina-chan, not that I'm questioning your judgment or anything, but where are we going?"

Kushina looked back at her. "Minato and I had a few hidden love nests in various parts of Hi no kuni and Mizu no Kuni. We can stop and rest there for now, but I plan on making a point to travel around a lot more than that. We may even try and set up a base over in what's left of Uzugakure."

They continued on for a few more miles, when suddenly Naruto started moving around. Immediately, Kushina called for the cat to stop, and the two girls moved to set Naruto down on the ground.

He came to slowly, making a point to act as if he were still unconscious so that he could check his surroundings. It would have easily fooled a civilian, but Kushina and Nabiki weren't that stupid, and when he finally opened his eyes, he found himself staring into eyes that were as blue as his own.

They sat there, unmoving for several minutes, and then, almost in an instance, Naruto found a grown redheaded kunoichi hugging him, crying into his shoulder, and sobbing apologies that made almost no sense to him. Eventually, he managed to ask "I'm sorry, but . . . do I know you?"

If anything, that made the redhead sob even harder, and he felt like he was being crushed under her glomp. The brown haired lady came to his rescue, gently pulling the crying woman off of him, and then kneeling in front of him.

After opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, the woman asked, "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry for this, but did the Hokage ever tell you anything about your parents?"

The boy blinked. "He . . . Jii-jii told me once that they died during the Kyuubi attack, and that they loved me very much, but he didn't really say much about it . . . "

Nabiki winced. This was going to be difficult. "Naruto . . . while it was true that your father died there, your mother was . . . kidnapped . . . and taken away shortly after you were born . . . "

"What?!? But Jii-jii . . . "

"He did not know about this because the room that she was in was incinerated just after she was taken away. The old man wouldn't have known about it. I know this . . . because I had to help your mother escape . . . "

Naruto was not a dumb kid. Clueless, yes, but his reasoning abilities had not been damaged by the Academy teachers at this time, so he was able to figure it out. As his eyes widened, Nabiki continued on. "When your mother was young, she created many enemies, and many of them wanted to use her for various things. I was . . . " She winced. "I wasn't exactly a good friend to her at that point, but I had always admired her for her strength and honor." Staring into his eyes, she finished with "While she was trapped there, she did everything in her power to get back to you."

The blond boy looked over to the redheaded woman, who was still quietly sobbing and looking at the ground. He then moved closer to her. "M . . . Mama?"

Her tearstained eyes snapped up to meet his, and moments later, they had rushed into another hug, both of them crying in joy and sorrow.

A tear slipped down Nabiki's face. At last, they were together.

* * *

_One year later . . ._

The sun beat down on the desert, as a young redheaded boy wandered around Sunagakure. His uncle had gone to meet with his father, the Kazekage, and as he had no friends, he had taken to wandering the outskirts of the village. There was a nearby oasis that, while small, had become a hangout for the poor child.

As he neared the oasis, he found that there was someone already there. A young blond boy, around his age, was sitting by the small pond of the oasis, reading a scroll. Just as the redhead was going to walk away, the blond snapped his eyes up, and looked over. After looking at the other boy for a few minutes, he waved.

The redhead blinked. No one had ever done that to him before. After a moment's hesitation, he moved closer.

The blond smiled, and reached over to pat the ground beside him. "Hi, my name's Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?

The redhead blinked again. "G . . . Gaara."

Naruto grinned. "Cool! So you're from Suna, right? What are you doing all the way out here?"

"This . . . is where I play sometimes."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Don't you have any friends to play with?"

Gaara looked down sadly. "No one wants to be friends with me . . . "

"Then I'll be your friend!"

Gaara's eyes snapped back up. "Wh-what?"

"Would you like to be my friend too?"

The redhead stared for a little bit, and then smiled shyly. "Sure . . . "

Suddenly, a sand cloud appeared out of the corner of his eye, and he looked over to find two odd looking women staring at him warily.

Before he could say anything, Naruto called out "Mom! Aunty Nabiki! Meet my new friend, Gaara!"

The first woman, with hair as red as his, blinked, and then smiled warmly. "Of course . . . the name's Uzumaki Kushina, the gaki's mother."

"And I thought I told you not to call me Aunty! I'm not that old." Snapped Nabiki.

Naruto grinned impishly. "Well I could call you nee-chan, but then it would be too weird when you and Mom kiss." Nabiki colored slightly, as Kushina rolled her eyes.

Nabiki, who was still standing to the side, looked at Kushina, who looked back, rolled her eyes again, and nodded.

She then turned to Gaara. "Say, Gaara-kun, you wouldn't happen to have a weird drawing anywhere on your body, would you?"

Gaara blinked, suddenly thrown off kilter, as his new friend looked at his mother oddly. "Y-yes, there is one on my back . . . "

"Could you show it to me?"

Gaara could only wonder about this. However, this was only the second adult that he had met that was kind to him, so he wasn't about to say no. After rolling up his shirt and turning around, he heard a sharp gasp. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Naruto, looking surprised, Kushina looking pale, and Nabiki looking . . . confused?

As he was about to turn back around, Kushina knelt down and touched his back. He shivered, as a small bit of sand reached out to block it. Both jumped at this, and Gaara immediately started trying to apologize. However, Nabiki pre-empted this.

"Ku-chan, what's up with that seal . . . it didn't look right . . . and the sand . . . "

Kushina replied, with a slight waver in her voice "Suna was in charge of the Ichibi no Tanuki, the one-tailed raccoon. He was said to control the sands of the desert itself. It seems like someone sealed him up in Gaara . . . but . . . but" She sobbed.

"Whoever it was, he obviously wasn't a good seal master." Naruto added.

"What makes you say that, Naruto?" Nabiki asked.

"Because it looks nothing like mine!"

Gaara jumped and looked at Naruto with wide eyes. "You . . ."

Naruto nodded solemnly. "I've got the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed in me. I can see why you had no friends now. I didn't either until my mom and Aunty Nabiki came to rescue me." He then looked down. "Most of my village hated me for one reason or another . . . "

Gaara smiled at his fellow jinchuriki, and put an unsteady hand on his shoulder.

Kushina, who had managed to calm herself down, said, in a whisper, "The seal is designed so weakly that it wouldn't take much for the Tanuki to take over, but it seems to also cause the demon pain . . . whoever sealed it must have planned to use Gaara as a weapon . . . "

She then grimaced, and then looked thoughtful for a second. "Gaara . . . do you think that the raccoon can hear us?"

Gaara flinched at this, but he nodded. Kushina continued tentatively, "Can you tell it . . . that if it wants the pain to stop, that I can stop it, if it will let me touch you for a few minutes?"

The young boy's heart stopped. "You . . . you can fix it?"

Kushina nodded. "It wouldn't take much altering. It would hurt for a few second, and you might fall unconscious, but you won't have to worry about him taking over anymore, and he won't have to be in pain either!"

Gaara was still in shock. "I . . . could actually go to sleep without hurting anyone?"

Kushina gently nodded, and then slipped a small paint brush and a jar of ink from inside her sleeve. Moving towards Gaara, she gently lifted his shirt and, as Gaara unconsciously held it up, she said "This may feel a bit ticklish, but I'll try to be gentle."

For several minutes, she painted away, and then finally, she put the paint brush down, and then tapped the center of the seal twice and yelled out "Fuin!"

A blinding flash lit up from the ink, and Gaara screamed out in pain. Then, everything went dark . . .

* * *

Several hours later, Gaara still slept, with Naruto keeping vigil beside him. Kushina, on the other hand, was sitting by a rock, sunning herself. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to find Nabiki, who had left shortly after Gaara had his seal redone.

"So, what have you found out?" Kushina asked.

Instead of answering, the ex-mercenary looked over at Gaara and said, "You know, this has to be the first time he's slept in . . . forever . . . " At Kushina's confused look, she continued. "Apparently, Ichibi had a habit of taking over whenever Gaara's asleep, making him dangerous to all. They've been giving him medicine to keep that from happening."

Her face took a turn towards sorrow. "The Kazekage is his father, but he thinks Gaara is a failed weapon, and has sent several assassins against him. Everyone fears him, and they have no qualms against calling him out on it. The only reason he hasn't been violently abused is because of his sand shield."

They stayed there in a companionable silence for a few minutes. Finally, Kushina looked up at Nabiki. Nabiki looked down at Kushina. Then they both looked over at Naruto.

"Naru-chan, how would you like to have Gaara as a brother?"

* * *

Poll is closed: The winners are Sakura, Matsuri, and Fu! Just a side note: I plan on adding an extra girl on the chain, but that will be a surprise for later.

COMING UP NEXT: We see a return to Konoha, several flashbacks to traveling days, and a flurry of chaos as Naruto returns! Plus, stick around to see three of the four girls that Naruto will be dealing with in the future . . . Stay tuned!


	5. Chapter 5

Greetings, and welcome to yet another installment of my writing. For the record, any information that you may find here can be looked up and verified on Wikipedia. At least, everything except my name for the Hidden Weapons Style; it took me a while to find that name, and now that I've finished the chapter, I cannot recall where I got it from . . .

For the record, I own nothing! All the money I have has been used to buy Christmas gifts for my loved ones, and I am NOT selling my laptop.

Flames will be used to keep my dorm room warm when I return this January.

I might have bashed Ino a bit in this chapter; that was not done intentionally. However, any Sasuke-bashing was meant.

Sorry, but no flashbacks yet; I just got on a roll for the story's present, but I will try to create some soon!

* * *

On the outskirts of Konoha, a young girl painted.

She was pale, with long brown hair and a shy personality. She was also not acting under her own power.

This was Kurama Yakumo, heiress to the Kurama bloodline, which was so strong within her that she had problems with controlling it. It was also said that a demon possessed her, though most people considered it to be a defect in her kekkei genkai, which caused her mind to create an alternate personality. Because of this, and because her powers were so dangerous, her chakra was sealed by one who was once trusted by her, and she was abandoned in the dark by her clan.

Sometimes, however, her clan and the ANBU involved with it would find her outside, painting pictures with rather destructive overtones. With her Uncle spending most of his time trying to negotiate with the rest of the council (who had taken issue with something or other for the past five or six years), she had found herself guarded less and less.

Thus it was that she was outside, painting a picture of lightning striking the Hokage's tower.

Her concentration on it was so great, and the trance she in so deep, that she was unaware of most of her surroundings. So, if someone were to sneak up on her . . .

"You know, that is a really good painting!"

Yakumo jumped, as if struck by the very thing that she was painting. As she whirled around, she noticed the normal haze that she usually found herself in clearing up, allowing her to think and feel without interference for the first time in years.

Behind her was a boy. He was half a head taller than she was, and roguishly handsome. He wore loose fitting pants that went down to the middle of his shins, which were wrapped tightly with bandages. A long-sleeved, Chinese-styled shirt adorned his torso; the shirt was blue, with orange trimmings. The sleeves were loose and open on the ends, which could easily hide a kunai.

However, it was his face that caught most of her attention. A bright yellow mane hung from his head, reaching down to be tied in a short ponytail in the back. Three whisker-like marks were on each cheek, and his eyes . . . were the brightest blue that she had ever seen.

Not to mention that his smile could easily match it in luminosity.

"Who . . . " She found her voice hard to summon, what with the lack of constant use from being shut in a dark room for most of her days. "Who are you?"

Instead of answering, the blond walked over to her painting, as if examining it. "You know, for a lovely artist such as yourself, your paintings are rather dark. You should try painting something happier!"

Yakumo found her face heating up, and became rather flustered . . . did she hear right? Was she . . . lovely?

Suddenly, before she could say something, ANBU surrounded them. One pushed Naruto against a tree, while two more grabbed Yakumo. A fourth reached for her with a syringe in one hand. Before he could inject her, however, the first ANBU flew into the fourth, surprising the second and third.

"All right, what's the big deal here? Why are you trying to subdue her?" The blond was getting annoyed, and held himself in a tight Taijutsu stance, blue eyes glinting dangerously.

"We are under orders to take Kurama-sama back to her house, under any means necessary." One ANBU growled, holding a kunai.

The blond blinked, and then narrowed his eyes. "Kurama . . . as in the Kurama Clan, holders of a Genjutsu-based Kekkei genkai? Call me crazy here, but isn't Konoha supposed to love those things? To manhandle her like this, obviously calls doubt to your identities. I will not allow . . . "

The boy paused for a bit, and then turned to the girl. "Sorry, I forgot to ask your name. What is it again?"

She felt her face light up even more. "Ya . . . Yakumo"

He grinned at her, and then turned back to the ANBU, face serious.

"Right, I will not allow Yakumo to leave with you without the vouching of Hokage-sama himself. Now back off!"

The first ANBU snorted. "Oh, and who are you to stop us, kid?"

As the four ANBU circled around them, and folded his arms inside his sleeves. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. In other words," his arms suddenly flashed out, as he slammed them to the ground, "I'm your worst nightmare."

An explosion of smoke covered the forest.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, busied himself with paperwork. It had been six long years since he last saw the Uzumakis, and he had found himself very busy within that time.

The Civilian Council, after being reminded of the horrors Kushina had gone through, and how she slaughtered an army of Iwa nin with her bare hands, and given up a bit of their power. However, they still wanted to play with things that they should not, especially in the case of Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha. While he could agree with the reasoning of some of their acts, he knew someone who would NOT be happy with it.

"Hiya, Sarutobi-sensei!"

He stiffened. Speak of the devil, and she will appear . . .

As he turned towards the window, he could see a redhead and a light brunette standing by it. Kushina was dressed by Jounin standards, wearing green pants and jounin vest, with a tight netting top underneath it. Nabiki, on the other hand, wore a short red kimono shat showcased quite a bit of cleavage and that came down to her knees. As she stepped forward, Sarutobi noticed the edges of spandex bicycle shorts on each leg.

"K-Kushina, you're back!" he exclaimed, getting up from behind his desk.

The redhead shrugged. "Yep, and depending on how much you've managed to fix here, we just might stay a while." She then gave the old man a hug. "Personally, I'm hoping that you've already taken care of it all, right Sarutobi-sensei?"

The old man couldn't help but sweat drop. "Most of it. How's Naruto doing, and . . . who is this again?" He gestured over to Nabiki.

Kushina quirked an eyebrow at the man's answer but shrugged and nodded to Nabiki, who stepped towards the Hokage and bowed, showing off a bit of cleavage.

"My name is Uzumaki Nabiki, lover and apprentice to Uzumaki Kushina, and something of an adopted aunt to our boys. I hope to be of service."

Sarutobi started at this. "Apprentice . . . l-lover?!?"

The jounin shrugged again. "After leaving here, I was rather . . . distraught, and while I knew what Minato was going to do, it never hit me until then that he truly was gone. I was emotionally in a bad place. If it wasn't for Nabiki, I don't know what I would've have done."

She met the man's eyes, and he was surprised at the strength in them. "In return for caring for me when and Naruto when I couldn't do either, I decided to teach her some of Uzugakure's more valuable techniques, which were sent with me and every other Uzu nin when we fled our home. After a while . . . " She trailed off, and then shook her head. "The details are not for you to know; what you do need to know is that I have decided to take her up as my legal apprentice, that she has become a remarkable genjutsu expert, and that she and I are in a relationship that WILL NOT BE QUESTIONED OR SPIED UPON!"

Sarutobi nodded his head quickly. He knew that some ninja ended up seeking comfort and love in unusual arms, but considering the relationship Kushina and Minato were in, he could have sworn . . . he shook his head slightly. Leave it to the mother of the most unpredictable young man in the world to be just as unpredictable.

"You will have no issues with me, though you might find some of the Civilian Council up in arms about it. If it was anyone else but you, I wouldn't be surprised, but . . . "

Kushina cut him off. "I understand, but my sex life has only been known to a handful of people. Most are dead, only a few are living, and of them, two are my boys, one is my current lover, and the last is missing a testicle."

Sandaime blinked. "You mean Jaraiya . . . "

"Check pages 139-145 of Icha Icha Volume 5," offered Nabiki.

"Erk!"

Kushina blushed. "If it wasn't for Naruto and Gaara, we would have ended up in the latest edition of it." She muttered.

Sarutobi, quickly composing himself, managed to catch this vital piece of information. "Who's Gaara? And where is Naruto, anyways?"

We picked Gaara up as we travelled by Sunagakure; he was being greatly mistreated," supplied Nabiki. "As for Naruto, he decided to wander in through a different entrance to the village."

"Gaara . . . " Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock. "You wouldn't happen to be speaking about . . . the youngest son of the Kazekage, would you?"

Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped, and Kushina gave him a meaningful look. "Yes, also known as Gaara, jinchuriki of the Ichibi. The man who created the seal was an idiot, and when we found him, wandering outside of the village to avoid the abuse of the villagers, I decided to fix the seal and adopt him as my own."

"If you think that we are going to leave ANY CHILD to that fate, then you are sadly mistaken," growled Nabiki.

Before Sarutobi could let out an apology, an explosion was heard outside the window. As the three of them rushed towards the window, they could see a large white cloud over in the woods.

Sarutobi received yet another shock when he heard Nabiki mutter "I could have sworn that we told him to stay out of trouble!"

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata wandered down the street towards home, two branch members of the Hyuuga clan at either side. She was a shy thing, with short blue hair and heavy beige clothing hiding a remarkably developed figure. Due to her meekness, she was considered weak by the Clan Elders, and mostly ignored by her father. However, she never stopped trying to become stronger . . .

. . . so that she could meet her hero.

It was during her sixth birthday, when a Kumo nin on a diplomatic mission attempted to kidnap her. He was almost out of the village when he stumbled on something. Hinata, peeking through the bag she was trapped in, saw a blond, whiskered face with blue eyes, struggling with the man's leg. He was kicked away, but by that time, her father had caught up to them, and managed to rescue her.

From walking around the village with her father, she saw the boy, who was named Naruto, running and playing pranks in the village. Despite the mean looks he got from the villagers, he always had a smile on his face.

She wished she could be like that.

Suddenly, there was a commotion up ahead, and as she looked up, she could see a large, bright orange toad heading towards them. In a panic, the branch members dodged to either side, but she couldn't move in time. She closed her eyes and braced for impact . . .

Suddenly, warm arms snaked around her shoulders and waist, pulling her close. She opened her eyes to see bright, sun kissed hair and blue eyes. Recognizing the face of her savior, her face lit up in a huge blush.

"You alright?" asked Naruto.

She could only nod. Smiling, Naruto set her down beside another girl, one her age, but also one she could not recognize. As he turned around, she noticed that she was sitting on something that was moving. She soon found out what that was when Naruto slapped the surface all three of them were sitting on and said "Hey Gama, watch where you are going! You could have seriously hurt someone!"

As she fainted, she could feel the girl beside her shriek and wrap her arms around her, before she faded into darkness.

* * *

"Watch it, forehead!"

You watch it, Ino-pig!"

Within the streets of Konoha, a young bun-haired brunette kunoichi rolled her eyes. _Here we go again!_

Every morning and every afternoon, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino verbally sparred and raced around the village. It used to be that they fought over Uchiha Sasuke, the pretty boy favorite of the village, but ever since the Civilian Council succeeded pushing for an early graduation for the 'last loyal Uchiha', things changed.

For one thing, the fact that there was an able kunoichi in the class that Sasuke joined caused a few issues to arise between the wannabe weapons mistress and the star of the village. He wanted a strong wife, and she wanted no part of it.

The amount of time and effort trying to avoid him cut into her study and training time, and when testing time came around, Tenten (a clan-less orphan), decided it would be better if she didn't have to deal with the emo Uchiha. Thus, she purposely failed the test, and decided to try again once the boy was busy with other missions.

After seeing the team he was added to (one stuck up Hyuuga who she once had a crush on, one youth obsessed fuzzy browed boy orphan, one youth obsessed Jounin instructor, and one odd looking silver haired Jounin co-instructor who read Icha Icha), she was glad that she decided not to pass that year.

However, if she had known that she would have to deal with the pink haired and green eyed Tweedle Dee and the blond haired, blue eyed Tweedle Dum, she would have left it well alone.

After realizing that Sasuke would be more interested in them if they were stronger kunoichi (after trying to start a fight with her), Ino and Sakura had started competing with each other in physical workouts. However, they had yet to take up a serious level of physical training. In fact, at the merest sign of the Uchiha, they would instantly switch to following him around like sick puppies.

At least . . . they used to. Ino still did most times, but Sakura . . . Sakura was spending more and more of her time in the library, or out and about the village, and seemed to try to avoid the boy.

Tenten didn't know that she once tried to confess her feelings to her crush, and not only got shot down, but insulted as well. The only reason she kept up her rivalry with Ino was to try and help her once best friend make Sasuke notice her.

Meanwhile, Tenten tried to keep up with her studies. She was an expert at throwing weapons, but not so much with hand to hand or melee weaponry, though she could hold her own in most cases. She also knew the basic three jutsu, but not much else. However, she was still the top of the class.

"Cut it out, forehead!"

"Na na, I'm ahead of you!"

Eyebrows twitching, Tenten opened her mouth to shut them up as they came back around the bend, when suddenly a voice rang out above them.

"Oi, can you shut it already, I'm trying to sleep here!"

Both rivals stumbled to a halt, as Tenten palmed a kunai and looked up to the tree branch above them. A young redheaded boy stood there, wearing loose cargo pants that reached down to mid-shin level. They stayed open at the bottoms, and all three girls could see that his legs were bandaged all the way up to his knees. He wore a loose, black long sleeved Chinese style shirt with red trimmings and open sleeves. However, it was his face that caught most of their attention.

His hair, red as dress Sakura wore, was rather messy, and he had black markings around his pale blue eyes, as if he was a raccoon. He was roguishly handsome, and his eyes held a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"You know, if you want to race, you could do it without making noise about it," the boy grouched, as he effortlessly leaped from the branch and landed beside them. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Tenten grabbed a kunai and moved into a fighting stance with it. Ino and Sakura looked shocked at this.

"Hey Tenten, what are you doing that for?" Ino asked.

Tenten was about to launch a scathing reply, but the boy spoke before she could open her mouth. "It's OK, she's obviously got good instincts. I mean, I very well could be an enemy ninja here to kidnap someone so I could breed with them and create my own in another hidden village." As both girls gasped and backed way, he smirked, and added, "However, if I were an enemy ninja looking for something like that, I wouldn't have announced myself like I did. Also, I would probably go for a Hyuuga or Uchiha chick, as those bloodlines are the easiest to work within those kinds of situations." He then frowned. "At least, that's what Naruto-nii-san said would be the best targets for enemy ninja in those cases; he's the expert on the clans of Konoha."

All three girls blinked at this news, but before they could remark, the mystery boy looked at Tenten, and said, "You know, I may be wrong, but I think your attack stance is wrong for that weapon." He then shrugged, "Then again, I could be wrong; weapons were never my thing, and aren't very useful to me."

This got the panda haired girl's temper up. "Excuse me, but who are you to criticize me and my weapons, you . . . you . . . "

Suddenly, an explosion sounded in the woods behind them. Tenten, being in position to see it, managed to dodge in time. Ino, being just out of the path of the big orange toad, was safe. Sakura, however, was right in its path. She screamed and tried to duck, waiting to be crushed.

After a few seconds like this, she opened her eyes to see what happened. The orange toad was speeding away from them being followed by ANBU, and there seemed to be something shading her from the sun. Looking up, she found a partial dome of sand covering her. Following the path of the sand, she found it reaching out of the sleeves of the mystery boy.

Ino was looking in shock at the amount of sand that came out of his sleeves, but Tenten was watching the toad that almost hit them, as if star-struck. "Were those . . . chain whips?" she whispered in awe.

"The redhead nodded. "That would be my weapon using brother, Naruto. Man, should have known he'd get into trouble," he sighed. He then started pulling his sand back into his sleeves. "Excuse me, but I have to get moving; it looks as if the idiot could use some help." At this point, Tenten looked back to see the sand that the boy summoned, and then lost control of her jaw. At her expression, and that of the other two girls, the boy smirked. "No need for weapons, when I can make whatever I need out of sand."

He then leapt up to a rooftop, but before he could leave, Sakura managed to find her voice again. "Wait!" As the boy looked back, she blushed, and asked, "What . . . what's your name?"

The redheaded boy smirked. "I am Uzumaki Gaara. And yours?"

The pinkette smiled. "Haruno Sakura."

"See you around, Sakura-san."

And then, he was gone. Ino looked at the dazed look that Sakura had in surprise, and then noticed something else.

"Hey, where'd Tenten go?"

* * *

Gama hopped rooftop to rooftop, avoiding ANBU and Hyuuga forces. The toad was deft and quick on his feet, and had only smashed one food cart (that held a lot of cabbage). Several of the ANBU had tried to throw kunais and shurikens at them, but most were blocked by Naruto and his chain whips, which he had hidden up his sleeves.

Suddenly, Gama changed directions, forcing Naruto to duck to regain his balance and look around, finding another group of ANBU moving to block his movements. One of them managed to move in, katana ready in his hands. However, before he could attack, he was kicked out of the way, and Naruto caught a flash of red hair. Gama immediately skidded to a halt, landing on yet another cabbage wagon, as Nabiki landed nearby.

"So what happened now, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"Naruto grimaced, but said, "While walking in the village, I came across, the Kurama heiress", he jestered to Yakumo, "who was painting in the woods. We were talking to each other, when these ninja claiming to be ANBU showed up. They were acting off, so I summoned Gama for a quick getaway, hoping to find Jii-jii."

Nabiki then gestured to Hinata who had regained consciousness, "And the Hyuuga is here because . . . "

"Gama almost hit her, and I had to catch her before she got hurt."

The ex-mercenary kunoichi sighed, and then shook her head. "You did the right thing, I guess, but did you HAVE to make such a commotion about it?"

They then heard a bunch of yelps and high pitched screams, and they looked over to find most of the ANBU, Kurama clan members, and Hyuuga branch members trapped in cocoons of sand. "You know, Gama really needs to learn to watch where he is going." Gaara remarked, as he leapt to the ground. "He almost hit me and another girl when you guys left the forest."

Gama croaked apologetically, and then poofed into smoke, forcing Naruto to catch and steady both girls as they landed. He either didn't see or ignored the bright red blushes both girls had as he caught them around the shoulders.

Kushina, however, did notice, and had to suppress the Saotome motherhood instincts, which immediately called for her to grab a pair of fans and proclaim the manliness of her son.

Sometimes, genetics really sucked.

"What is going on here? What is the meaning of this?" Sarutobi appeared at this time, forcing every (non-entrapped) ninja to stand at attention.

"Jii-jii!" Naruto instantly lunged at the Hokage, who grabbed and gave the boy a fierce hug.

"Why hello, Naruto-kun! Look how you've grown." Scores of ninja facefaulted at this. "Now, what have you gotten into now?" The old man looked around, and saw Gaara and his sand. "I'm assuming this is your adopted brother over there; could you tell him to let my ANBU down, please?"

Naruto grinned brightly, turned around, and yelled, "Hey Gaara, you can set them down now!" Gaara nodded, and then 'called' the sand back into his sleeves, leaving the ninja to drop to the ground.

Sarutobi blinked at this. "Naruto . . ."

"Yes, Jii-jii?"

"Does Gaara have some sort of storage seal on his arms?"

Naruto's grin turned into a smirk. "Actually, that's a secret technique Mom taught us. She calls it Anki, or The Hidden Weapon Technique. Basically, we invert our chakra in such a way that it allows us to store stuff in it." Naruto's hands whipped out, and suddenly Sarutobi found himself looking at five chain whips in Naruto's left hand, and a sheathed katana in Naruto's right hand. "I've got tons more hidden up my sleeves, but it's a real pain to carry it all; as I have to take them out each night; the Anki is a real chakra drainer. Gaara, on the other hand, uses it to store tons and tons of sand, since he can use it with his kekkei genkai."

Sarutobi hesitantly nodded. "I . . . see. Now, I hate to cut the pleasantries short, but is there a particular reason why you were being chased by all of my ninja."

Before Naruto could answer, a Kurama Clan member spoke up. "We were trying to recapture Yakumo-sama after she escaped from the manor, when this THING sabotaged . . . "

Before he could finish, Kushina was on him, slamming him into a wall and knocking him unconscious. When several other Kurama nins tried to attack them, they froze, and then started clutching their asses and screaming in pain.

Kushina turned to Sarutobi. "There better be a good reason for this, or there will be blood, and lots of it!" Meanwhile, Naruto noticed how Yakumo seemed to be hiding behind him.

Sarutobi winced. "Yakumo-chan has . . . control issues with her bloodline. We were afraid of someone getting hurt because of it, so I asked for one of my ninjas to seal her chakra. I had no idea that she was being caged in like that, but . . . "

"I don't see what the big problem is," Gaara interrupted. "All you need to do is exorcise the baku, and everything should be fine!"

Everyone but Naruto, Kushina, and Nabiki looked at the boy oddly, but he just shrugged. "Hey, who's the demonology expert here: me, or you?"

Kushina shrugged. "He's got a point." When everyone moved their gazes towards her, she snorted. "Gaara, through a sealing accident, accidentally absorbed the knowledge of an old priest who had used his very life force to hold back the Ichibi no Tanuki, the One-Tailed Raccoon, before it was sealed within its jinchuriki. Because of that, not only does he have extensive knowledge on a lot of demons, but he knows how to sense and exorcise any that are not sealed within their host."

Gaara nodded at this. "Bakus are chimeric demons with the ability to devour dreams and nightmares. They tend to possess anyone with a strong talent in genjutsu. They are relatively easy to get rid of. The host can fight them off, but it tends to be rather dangerous, as if the baku wins, it can take over the host's body. They can be exorcised through a combination of ofuda and a specialized seal array, but that tends to be rather painful."

"However," he lectured, turning to Naruto, "there is a third way, that doesn't require as much risk or pain."

Naruto got the message, and nodded. "We can discuss these options in your office, Jii-jii, if you'd like."

Sarutobi, who had watched the gameplay, nodded, and then led the way for Kushina, Nabiki, Naruto, Gaara, Yakumo, and Hinata back to his office.

Meanwhile, a certain bun-haired girl watched them go, wondering if she'd be able to get a hold of that Anki technique, and exactly who this 'Naruto' was . . .

Not in that specific order, of course, because for some reason, she found herself more interested in Naruto.

_Kami, PLEASE tell me that this isn't the first step to becoming a fangirl_, she thought.

* * *

COMING UP NEXT: A baku is devoured. Hyuuga Hiashi enters the scene and tries to make a deal with Kushina. Naruto, Gaara, Tenten, Hinata, Yakumo, and Sakura get to know each other, while Yakumo gets a reprieve from her family (and so does Hinata). Stay tuned!


	6. Chapter 6

This is a onetime thing: I will never create a super-long chapter like this unless I have an extreme moment of writing inspiration while out of internet connection range. Don't expect anything special for the next update.

If there are any Detective Conan Fans reading this who know the manga pretty well, let me know if there are any decent martial art themed mysteries out there. I'd check, but I have no time and no internet connection at the moment. Thanks!

For the record: I OWN NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH! DO NOT SUE ME!

Flames will be used for warmth, because it is cold where I am!

* * *

The large group of ninja and wannabe ninja entered the Hokage's office. Several other nin tried to follow, including Yakumo's uncle, but the door was closed as soon as they were in, and the flare of chakra from the activation of the security seals told them all that it would be better to wait.

Inside, Naruto stopped, looked over at his mother, and cocked his head to the side. At Kushina's nod, he turned to Yakumo and rattled off a few hand seals before stopping at an oddly familiar one to the Hokage.

"Isn't that seal unique to the Yamanaka clan?" he asked.

Kushina nodded. "When Minato and I were getting into a relationship, I ended up saving the lives of one of the Yamanaka. In return, they offered to adopt me as an honorary clan member. That jutsu is the first Yamanaka jutsu that all Yamanaka learn, and it is one of the few that can work without the use of the Yamanaka kekkei genkai."

Hinata blinked, and then spoke up. "A-ano, b-but I d-didn't know th-that the Y-Yamanaka had a b-bloodline . . . "

As both Naruto and Yakumo fell into a slump (supported by Gaara's sand), Kushina explained, "The Yamanaka Clan Jutsu requires a lot of specialized brain activity that uses parts of the brain that are more developed in a Yamanaka. If a non-Yamanaka were to use one of their more advanced jutsu, there is a definite risk of going into a seizure, and a four in five chance of them falling into a coma for the rest of their lives."

* * *

Yakumo awoke to find herself in a dark cave. Looking around, she could see know light . . . no life . . . and she was scared. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she screamed.

"Hey, hey, it's just me!"

She immediately jerked around and latched onto Naruto, muffling her sobs into his warm chest. The boy blinked, and then smiled, as he rubbed her back gently. "There there, it's OK," he whispered into her ear.

After several minutes, Yakumo managed to regain control over her emotions, and stepped back, muttering an apology. Naruto shrugged it off. She tthen looked around. "Where . . . where are we?"

Naruto's face turned serious. "We are currently in your mindscape, and considering how those bastards must have treated you, I'm honestly not surprised at the scenery." At Yakumo's depressed features, he gripped her shoulder and smirked at her. "Mind you, it's not the worst mindscape I've seen, and with any luck, it won't stay like this for long. Let's just go find your uninvited tenant, and kick him out on his ass now, shall we?"

The girl gave him a soft smile at this, but before anything could be said, malevolent chuckling could be heard behind them. Naruto quickly pushed Yakumo behind him as they finally faced the threat.

It was an ugly red thing, with demonic horns poking out of its head and two great tusks sticking out of its mouth. It stood a head and a half taller than Yakumo, but wore the same drab robes that she wore. It stepped forward. "Welcome, my host, my . . . 'better' half," It snarled, give me a moment to get rid of this interloper, and we can get down to business, shall we?"

Naruto smirked at the beast. "You can try."

Roaring, the baku charged at the two children, but at the last second, Naruto pushed Yakumo out of the way and then grabbed on to its arm.

The last thing Yakumo saw before she faded out was both Naruto and the baku winking out of existence.

* * *

Again, Yakumo awoke, this time to find herself being held up by arms of sand. Before she could scream again, the sand pulled back, and was replaced by soft, feminine arms.

"I got you," Nabiki told the girl.

As she looked back at the older girl, she heard a groan coming from in front of her. She turned her head to look at the blinking blue eyes of Naruto.

"Man, what a whiner," he groaned. "Hey Gaara, you can let go now."

The sand instantly pulled back into the sleeves of the redheaded boy. "I assume that the baku is toast now?" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "It may have talked tough at the beginning, but the moment it saw what I've got in my head, it started crying like a panda." When the Konoha group started giving him odd looks, he shrugged. "Mom says it all the time. Mind you, I don't get the reference myself, but I happen to like it."

Shaking his head, Sarutobi tried to call things to order. "So I assume that, now that Yakumo-san is demon-free, that she should have no problems learning control now, correct?"

Kushina smirked. "If taught by a genjutsu master, she would have had no problems in the first place. Now though, the sealing of her chakra will have made her control chaotic at best. However, if taught correctly, she should be able to control her bloodline so that it doesn't backfire on anyone. I'm pretty sure Kenji-kun could take care of her."

Sarutobi winced at this. "Unfortunately, Kenji-san did not survive the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago. In fact, we have had precious few genjutsu specialists since then," he replied.

Kushina blinked at this. "Then who did you have teaching her before?"

"Yuhi Kurenai was her original teacher."

Kushina smiled at that. "You mean Kurenai-chan, that little girl who came to our village for training about six months before the Kyuubi attack? I remember her; I used to tell her stories about the things I saw genjutsu users doing back in the day. How is she, anyways?"

Sarutobi smiled uneasily. "She's grown into a lovely young kunoichi, and has just recently become eligible to become a Jounin instructor. She studied under Mira-san for . . . "

He was interrupted by Kushina's indignant screech. "You let her study under HER?!?" No wonder Kurenai-chan couldn't do anything for poor Yakumo-chan! That women was a chunin level genjutsu user at best, and only made it to jounin because she had connections in the Jounin Exam Board! I never . . . "

"Kushina, please!" Sarutobi begged, "She was the only person qualified to tutor young Kurenai-san in genjutsu at the time, and even SHE has passed on since then! Kurenai is all we have left!"

Kushina broke off her rant, breathing heavily. Nabiki wrapped an arm around the woman, as she shuddered, holding back tears for those who had passed on since she was taken away. "You know," Nabiki whispered into her ear, "I may not be finished with my genjutsu training, but I ought to be able to help her." As Kushina turned her gaze to her apprentice/lover, Nabiki hurried to explain. "You had me going through a lot of control exercises when I first got here, and I still remember most of them; I could . . . "

She was stopped with a quick peck to the lips, stunning both Hinata and Yakumo, and forcing Sarutobi to hold back perverted giggles. "You don't have to tell me twice, dear. Besides, you are already pretty close to becoming a Genjutsu Mistress by Uzu's standards. As long as you hold off on teaching her some of your more . . . potent genjutsu, she is yours to train."

"Besides," she continued, turning to Yakumo, "an apprenticeship contract will be the perfect excuse to get her out of Kurama control, and I'm pretty sure with a bit of persuasion," she cracked her knuckles, "he'll gladly agree to sign off on it."

"Now Sarutobi-kun," she crooned, telling the man that he better answer her next question, or else. "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

Sarutobi gulped at this, "Well, um . . . " He then grabbed at a piece of parchment on his desk, used to write already established laws. "Before I managed to take back most of the decision making power from the Civilian Council, they managed to pass this." As Kushina took the parchment from his hands, he continued, "Now, before you say anything, I was not fully aware of what I was signing at the time. This was just after the Uchiha Clan was massacred by one of their own, and I was tired from lack of sleep; I only read the first few sentences, and . . . "

He was cut off when Kushina started growling. "You actually PASSED something like this?!? How dare you! I . . ."

"I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS AT THE TIME!" Sarutobi cried. "When I did, I managed to rush through a series of revisions and amendments before it could be enacted. I was even able to include a well-disguised clause to give Naruto a chance at using it when I revealed his true lineage to him if he wanted to, but . . . "

Nabiki was too late to slap her hand over his mouth, as a dreamy expression appeared on Kushina's face. Acting quickly, she turned off the security seals using a back door Minato had placed in for Kushina to use in case of emergencies, and then pushed the kids to the window. "Get out while you still can, I'll try to break her out of it. You kids go have some fun, and we will talk more later. Naruto, why don't you go show the girls the Namikaze estate?"

The kids quickly left, Naruto carrying Yakumo in his arms (much to her embarrassment), leaving their mother behind before she whipped out the fans."

Genetics is such a terrifying thing . . .

As the children rushed out the window, Nabiki quickly redid the seals, turned around, and then slapped Kushina harshly. The redhead stumbled back, shook the cobwebs out of her head, and then turned back to Nabiki. "Thanks, I needed that."

Nabiki nodded, and then took a look at the document. "A Clan Revival Act. Interesting . . . you know, I can see quite a few people qualifying for this, despite the fact that Sasuke-san isn't really the last of his clan."

Sarutobi blinked, and then blurted out, "What? But Sasuke is all that is left from the Uchiha Massacre!"

Kushina smirked. "Turns out that that bastard Fugaku had a few 'dalliances' with civilians in other towns that bore fruit. We ran into a young boy who, after nearly being mauled by wolves, found himself stuck with the Sharingan. After checking with the mother, it turns out that about nine months before the kid was born, she had a dream where a 'dark, mysterious man seduced her. She thought nothing of it, as the child looked pretty much like her husband."

"Problem is," Nabiki added, before Sarutobi could comment, "neither parent nor child want to take part in the standard shinobi life style, so we were asked to seal the kekkei genkai up. However, we do have a few friends looking into other possibilities."

The old man sighed. She just had to get his hopes up, and then trashed them again. "I'm sure young Sasuke-kun would be ecstatic to learn that he is not alone, but are you sure that the person you have working on this is trustworthy?"

Nabiki nodded. "Yep, and we know for a fact that your favorite little spy is happy to know about his father's infidelity as well." As Sarutobi stiffened, the young ex-Tendo waved him off. "Oh come off it, you expect him to keep something like this from one of the woman who diapered him? He spilled his guts about what he had to do to Ku-chan the moment we knocked his partner out. Honestly, he wasn't much surprised to find out that his father was creating illegitimate Uchiha children every time he left. Bastard deserves to burn in hell for what he did to his wife at the end."

Sarutobi gaped at this tidbit. "But, Itachi-kun told me . . . "

Kushina spoke up, "Itachi-kun was distraught at the time, and blamed himself. If he wasn't trying to assassinate his father, the bastard wouldn't have had to hold Mikoto hostage, and if he didn't try using Amaratsu on him, his mother may still be alive, is his reasoning."

Sarutobi sighed and set his head down on his desk. "I'm getting to old for this shit." He reached over and turned off the security seals legitimately.

Suddenly, the door crashed open, and was slammed shut in an instant. As Kushina whirled around to take on the intruder, she was wrapped in a bear hug by one of the most unlikely people in the village.

"Oh thank Kami you came back! I've been hoping you'd return soon!"

Kushina stood there mouth agape, and the other two residents of the room joined her, as they watched Hyuuga Hiashi sob into Kushina's breast.

* * *

Ichiraku Ayame wiped the counter of her families ramen stand, and sighed. It had been six years since her favorite blond younger brother left the village, and she missed him dearly. He was the most enthusiastic customer of their little ramen stand, and always brightened up her day. Then a woman who the Sandaime Hokage claimed to be the young blonde's mother, returning after being kidnapped by unknown enemies, came and whisked him away.

She missed the little brat, as did her father, Ichiraku Teuchi, and both prayed that he was OK.

"Hey, Ayame-chan, one miso ramen please!"

The young girl snapped out of her funk, and looked up to reply to the customer, when she froze. Whisker-marked cheeks, sun-kissed blond hair, bright blue eyes . . . she knew that face . . .

"N-Naruto-kun!" she squealed, glomping the younger blonde from across the counter and causing her father to run out of the back of the stand. "You're back!"

"Ayame-nii-chan, I need air!" Naruto managed to gasp out. Ayame stepped back, slightly embarrassed, and was immediately replaced by her father, who squeezed his favorite customer warmly.

"It's about time you came back, brat! Do you have any idea how much a dip our profit margin took without you here?" the old man joked.

"Sorry, but Mom didn't want me back here until she knew I could take care of myself. If it wasn't for Auntie Nabiki, we probably wouldn't have come back at all, but I made too many promises for that to happen, and I aim to keep them!"

Ayame giggled at the blonde, and then noticed that he wasn't alone. "Why Naruto, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were holding out on us. Who're your new friends?"

Naruto smiled brightly."The lazy redhead over there," he nodded to Gaara, who had set his head on the counter and closed his eyes, "is my adopted brother, Gaara. Mom found him over by Suna, and since his situation was similar to mine, Mom decided to take him in." Both Ichirakus immediately got the hidden meaning to those words, and made a point to smile brightly at the boy, who had opened his eyes and shot a lazy grin and a finger salute to them.

"Over here is Yakumo-chan," he continued, pointing at the pale brunette sitting beside him. "She's apparently the heiress to the Kurama Clan, and will probably end up as Auntie Nabiki's apprentice before the day is out." Yakumo blushed lightly and murmured a shy greeting.

"And this," Naruto gestured to his other side, "is Hinata-chan, the Hyuuga heiress. I kind of ran into her when I was trying to get Yakumo-chan away from some weird ANBU." Hinata's face turned a deep red, in contrast to Yakumo, turned a deep red, as she nodded meekly and tried not to faint.

Ayame smiled, but before she could speak up, Gaara interrupted. "And the three hiding across the street are Tenten, Ino, and Sakura. The blonde and the pinkette woke me from a nap earlier, while the one with the weird hair bulbs was standing around. Sakura-san seems nice, but Ino-san was a bit snappish, and Tenten-san seems to have a weapons fetish, considering the way you were using Anki out there earlier."

Hinata, Yakumo, and Ayama blinked, and looked back to find three figures watching them separately. Sakura, who was the closest to their postion, let out a small "Eep", and ducked down behind a wall. Ino, the farthest back, ducked behind a tree. Tenten, however, after a momentary hesitation, walked out from the alley she was in, and moved towards them. Once she reached the counter, she sat beside Hinata, who she nodded to. Hinata, who respected the older girl for her focus and confidence, and who had spoken to her on several occasions, smiled back.

"Hi, my name's Tenten," she said, as she held out her hand to the blonde.

"Uzumaki Naruto," was her reply, as well as a firm handshake and a slight grin. "We were wondering when one of you three would come up out from hiding."

Tenten blushed, and then stuttered out, "Wh-what, you mean that you saw me? But I'm top of my class at stealth . . . "

"And Naruto and I have keen senses of smell; it wasn't that hard to detect three feminine presences from across the street," Gaara told her. "Mind you, the fact that you don't wear any perfume is a bonus in your case, but you've yet to learn any of the higher stealth jutsu that can hide one's scent from enemies."

Tenten nodded, and tried to stop blushing. When she managed to straighten herself up, she turned to Yakumo. "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you from the academy; who are you again?"

After introductions were carried out, Tenten looked back at the blonde again. "Um, Uzumaki-san, is it possible that . . . "

"Naruto."

She paused, confused, "Huh?"

"My friends call me Naruto. You seem nice, thus you can be considered a friend."

Tenten blushed a bit at this. "Naruto . . . is it possible you could teach me that thing you did with that whip earlier?"

Naruto blinked at this, but before he could answer, Ayame interrupted. "Wait, you mean you were the one that caused that panic three streets over?"

Naruto smirked at her. "Long story short, I had to get Yakumo-chan away from some bad people, and the best way to do that is to force them to go through a panicking crowd." He then turned to Tenten, and told her, "Sorry, but I'm not the one to ask about that. My mother taught me the technique, and I have no idea whether she considers that a family technique or something. We can ask her if you want, but last I checked, she was still talking to the Hokage."

Tenten nodded, slightly disappointed, but she tried not to show it. She didn't have many friends in her class at the Academy. Most were perverted boys, somewhat unapproachable, or fangirls. Now, it looked like she and Hinata had four more.

She smiled at the blonde, as they continued getting to know everyone. _Besides, he is kind of cute . . . _

* * *

Back at the Hokage's office, Kushina had managed to calm the distressed Hyuuga Clan Head down. Sarutobi had raised the Privacy Seals again, and Nabiki had brought out some sake for everyone.

"I apologize for that unseemly display," he told the other three. "Things have been tough these past few years, and the clan council has been using our bylaws against me at every turn." He sighed, "Things just haven't been the same since my wife passed away eight years ago . . ."

Kushina just waved it off. "I'm sorry to hear that; Mitsuko-chan and I were great friends during our respective pregnancies. Did you know that she and Naruto ran into each other earlier?"

Hiashi smiled. "Yes, I heard about that event. I was worried at first, but when I found out that he was at the center of that disturbance, I managed to keep myself from doing anything hasty. He's your son; he'd never hurt anyone without reason, and would endeavor to protect anyone and everyone he could. I cannot express the amount of grief I feel for not trying to do anything to alleviate his depressing condition from the very beginning."

Kushina shrugged. "You didn't know, and you didn't do anything against him, from what I hear. Nothing to forgive." She then gave the man a speculative look. "So, what's got you so distressed that you ran in here sobbing?"

Hiashi sighed. "When Mitsu-chan died, she left me with two children: Hinata and Hanabi. Not long after Hanabi turned five, the council came to me, demanding that I allow the Cage Bird Seal to be placed on her. In my distress, I decided upon stalling Hinata's jyuuken training, in the hopes of turning their attentions towards her; they are very traditional, and sealing the eldest child would rankle enough of them to give me a chance to rescue one of my baby girls. Unfortunately, Hinata takes after her mother's personality; kind and gentle to a fault, and a bit shy. Lately, more and more of the council has been calling me to put the Seal on her instead!"

Kushina nodded. "So in other words, the council is putting you in a lose-lose situation. Why am I important in this?"

"Most of the other Clans were not as close to Mitsu-chan as you were. Those who were do not have enough political power in the village to do anything to help. I was hoping you'd help me find a way to get Hinata out of the Hyuuga Clan without allowing them to place the Seal on her. Once she is out of harm's way, I can tend to Hanabi, and try and reduce the Council's hold on her; she has taken on the Hyuuga mantra up far too much for my liking, and I'm afraid that the Council has been manipulating her against her sister. The fact that Hinata cannot bring herself to harm her, even in sparring sessions, is not helping."

"Maybe I could've done something before taking Naruto, but I can't be sure how much political pull I have now that I'm back," Kushina replied. "I noticed how meek and shy Hinata was earlier; it's obvious that her living conditions are terrible, but I'm not sure if there is anything to be done about it!"

"Please, you've got to do something!" Hiashi begged. It was Mitsu's last wish that I not seal either of my daughters, and I don't want to go against that!"

"You know," Nabiki interrupted, "maybe there is something that we can do." As both adults turned to Nabiki (Sarutobi was just sitting behind his desk, watching the floor show), she waved the Clan Restoration Act around. "Ku-chan, I know you won't like doing something like this to Naruto-kun, but maybe, in order to save Hinata-san, maybe we should consider 'joining the schools', so to speak."

Kushina opened her mouth at this, but no sound came out of it. After closing and opeing it several times, she looked down, and sighed. "Figures something like this would happen; in fact, I seem to recall Mitsu-chan and I doing something similar to what those two idiots did back before either of us were pregnant. Neither of us were really serious about it, but . . . I don't want to do something like this to either of them . . . "

While she spoke, Hiashi had politely taken the document from Nabiki and looked it over. He chuckled, "I don't know about your son, but Hinata-chan would be ecstatic if we do this. Nabiki and Kushina looked at him oddly, as he continued, "I'm not sure if you know this, but Naruto-kun played a role in rescuing Hinata from being kidnapped by Kumo some years back. Ever since then, I believe Hinata has viewed him as her knight in shining armor. She doesn't know I know this, but she snuck out of the compound several times, just to watch him train."

"So Hinata would go for this, and we both know that if we tell Naruto-kun about this, he'd go for it just to save his knew friend; neither of them have the same problem you and Akane had when you first met, and as long as we include an escape clause in this agreement, both of them could get out of the agreement if it doesn't work out. Sounds like the perfect plan for now," Nabiki concluded. "Plus, even if Naruto can't fully return Hinata's feelings, he can still get an extra wife or . . . " she took the document back from Hiashi and looked it over again, "three, so everyone's happy!"

Her redheaded lover sighed. "Fine, but we need to go in and explain the truth to both of them; you know I don't like lying to my kids. Also," she gave Hiashi a look, "I would like to talk a bit about Hanabi-chan's situation. I don't want to engage her like we are her sister, but I don't like the fact that she is as close as she is to the Hyuuga Elders, bastards that they are."

* * *

Back at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, the five wannabe nin were getting on as if they knew each other for years. Ayame came in and out of the conversations, telling everyone recent gossip and tales of Naruto's youth. Eventually, Yakumo had to ask something.

She was young, and had spent many years stuck at the Kurama Compound, yet she had never . . .

"Um, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, Yakumo-chan?"

"Ah, um, I was wondering . . . what is going on . . . with your mother . . . and Aunt?" she managed to squeeze out. Since she had never seen anything like . . . THAT . . . she didn't know how to handle it. She felt as if she was asking something too personal . . .

Fortunately, Naruto and Gaara had seen and heard much more than she and Hinata (who was wondering the same thing) had, so they had no problems with it.

Unfortunately, Yakumo was so comfortable before that she forgot that Tenten was not originally there. "What are you talking about?" Tenten asked.

Yakumo jumped back, shocked and embarrassed, but Naruto waved it off. "Long story short, Auntie Nabiki and our mother are not really related by blood."

"Another thing to note," added Gaara, "is that adult ninja have issues with romance. Considering their lives . . . our lives . . . opportunities for romance and love are few and far between."

"Long story short, my mother is willing to look at both sides of the equation for love, if you catch our drift," Naruto continued. "Back when she was a young kunoichi, she supposedly fell in love with her best girlfriend. Over thirteen years ago, my mom and dad fell in love. After being kidnapped and escaping, she took Auntie Nabiki on as her apprentice, and as she helped her take care of me and Gaara, they fell in love with each other. We've lived with it for the about six or seven years now; it's no big deal to us."

"Wait a minute, you mean that your mother and your . . . the woman you call your aunt . . . are lovers?" Tenten managed out? "And that it's common for kunoichi to do that?!?"

"I wouldn't call it common, per say," Gaara said after a beat of silence, "but it happens more than civilians would like to think, and it's not restricted to just kunoichi, either. There is a rather nice gay couple over in Kumo. They're nice guys."

"Mind you, we like girls, so please don't include us in any yaoi fantasies," Naruto griped. "It's bad enough that Auntie Nabiki reads that shit, we don't want to be inspirations for it."

"Y-y-yaoi?" stuttered Hinata.

"Yeah, there is a woman over in Kiri that is in to writing about guys loving other guys, kind of like Jaraiya of the sannin writes about guys loving girls and stuff like that, except without the perverted peeping," Naruto explained.

"Speaking of that pervert, we haven't seen him in quite a while," Gaara said.

"You're right . . . do you think he's in hiding?"

"He better be; we still owe him for the last time he tried to peek on Mom in that bath house."

All three girls, plus Ayame (who had just walked back over), blinked at the odd conversation, but just shrugged it off; after all, everyone knew what Jaraiya wrote, considering he had his very own walking bill board walking around town.

"Hey boys!" The Naruto and Gaara looked up to find Nabiki and Kushina heading towards them. Kushina quickly grabbed Naruto and pulled him to the side so she could speak to him alone. Meanwhile, Nabiki took his spot.

"So you must be the infamous Auntie Nabiki that Naruto told me about," Ayame said. "He's said a lot about you."

The mercenary turned ninja raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Ayame shrugged. "My father is a retired shinobi, and we get a lot of business from that many people with unusual relationships. You and Uzumaki-dono have no worries about us, and considering how Naruto and Gaara explained it, there shouldn't be more than a few problems with the girls here."

Nabiki blinked, and then gave a feral grin. "Oh that? We don't really care what anyone thinks about me and Kushina, to be honest. I was more concerned with the gaki telling one too many stories about us."

"Naw, we only spoke about the clean stuff," quipped Gaara, slurping up his tenth bowl of ramen. "Now, if you want us to tell them something else, there is always the time Naruto and I chased Ero-sennin all over that one city in Grass Country." His grin then turned mischievous, "Or what about the time before that, when you and Kushina chased him around yourself with only your towels on."

Ayame and the other girls gaped at this, but Nabiki shrugged it off, "Hey, the last thing we want to be is the stars of his latest book. We had to get a hold of that notebook of his ASAP. No big deal."

"WHAT!?!" Everyone turned to look at Naruto and Kushina, who was busy trying to explain something to her son. They watched them whisper a few words to each other hastily, and after a minute of this, Naruto sighed, and then nodded. Then, forming an odd cross-shaped hand seal, Naruto created ten clones of himself, who jumped off and away. Both mother and son then turned back to the others.

"So this is the famous 'Onee-chan' that Naruto spoke of almost daily," Kushina said, making the girl stammer and blush. "I really owe you and your father one for taking care of my son while I was . . . indisposed."

"No problem," said Teuchi, walking away from the stove for a minute. "He was our best customer, though if it wasn't for the fact that he tends to down ramen like nothing else, we'd serve him on the house; he's been like a nephew to me, if not like a son at time."

Kushina nodded. "We really have to get together and talk sometime; I missed the first seven years of my son's life, and I've yet to have someone tell me how he was when he was little. But first," she said, smirking, as she turned to Yakumo and Hinata. "Yakumo-chan, I managed to hunt down Unkai a little while ago, and he's agreed for me to put you up at my place, while we train you. Go and pack up what you want to take with you; Naruto made some Kage Bunshin and they'll be waiting to carry whatever you need them too."

"Hinata-chan, your father wishes to tell you the exact reason this is happening himself, but I have agreed to put you up as well. Go meet with him, and then pack your stuff. The Naruto clones will assist you with whatever you need them to."

Both girls rushed off, and Kushina turned to Tenten, "And who are you, if I may be so blunt?"

"Tenten, ma'am," the girl said, straightening her back.

"She saw me using the Anki earlier, and came to ask me how I did it," Naruto explained. "When I told her I wasn't able to teach it, she hung around and joined in the revelry. She's pretty cool."

Kushina cocked her head at this, and then started walking around Tenten, inspecting the girl, and making her somewhat nervous. "Hm . . . she's too young to be a seductress, too shrimpy to be a Taijutsu specialist, and doesn't have enough chakra control to be able to specialize in genjutsu as of right now."

Tenten had to resist grinding her teeth at this, but Kushina caught the visual cues. "A bit of fire in you, eh? Good, good . . . so, Tenten, is it? No clan name."

Tenten stared back at the woman, "I was orphaned during the Kyuubi attack. Never knew my parents."

The older redhead grimaced, but pushed on. "I see . . . so, what exactly is your reasoning for becoming a weapons mistress, and how far are you willing to go to become one?"

Tenten resisted the urge to attack the woman with her hidden kunai; she had a feeling that it wouldn't do any good. "From the moment I was old enough to get a job, I worked over in a weapons shop. The owner knew a bit about weapons, and used to show off for me and stuff. I fell in love with weapons then and there, and I will do whatever it takes to become Konoha's first weapons mistress."

Kushina started at the girl, long enough to make Tenten nervous, and then smiled. "Do you know, Tenten-san, what Uzugakure was famous for?"

Tenten blinked at this. "Um, no ma'am."

"Uzugakure was famous for three things," Kushina lectured, "their powerful Suiton Jutsu users, their almost supernatural Genjutsu techniques, and their Weapon Masters. It was said that an Uzu Weapons Master could take any weapon and use it to defeat an enemy; the best could even use items that were never meant to be weapons in the first place as such. I may be a Taijutsu and Ninjutsu specialist myself, but I may be able to teach you enough about weaponry to help you get close to mastery."

The panda-haired girl blinked at this. "You mean, you want to train me?"

"Yep. Konoha is not known for their weapon users, or their genjutsu users. I aim to change that, and I can't do it without people to train. You look like you've got what it takes. However," Kushina raised her hand, "in order to master weaponry, you have to train your body first. Only the best Weapon Masters never resorted to Taijutsu in a battle, and it will be a while before you can become proficient enough to fight without resorting to hand to hand."

"Understood."

Kushina smiled. "Good, now where are you staying."

"In an apartment above the shop I work at. Why?"

Suddenly, five more Naruto bunshin appeared, and stood outside, waiting on her. Kushina continued on, nodding a silent thank you to her son while she did so. "My training schedule will be intense. You will need to wake up pretty early, and train late into the night."

Tenten's jaw dropped, and her face took on the hue of a ripe tomato. "But . . . but what about room? You already have Hinata-chan and Yakumo-san staying over, and your sons, and . . . "

"If you are concerned about space, then don't; the Namikaze compound has plenty of room. As for Naruto and Gaara, they share a profound dislike of perverts, so you don't have to worry about them doing something untoward. Trust me, after day one of training, you'll be glad that you don't have to walk home, because I don't go easy when it comes to training."

The younger kunoichi gulped, but steeled her gaze. She wasn't about to back down. "Understood. I'll go get my stuff."

As she rushed off, Nabiki returned to Kushina's side. "So, taking in three more strays, eh? Sure you have enough?"

"Tch, you knew what I was when you picked me up, Na-chan. You complaining or something?"

"No, but it will be fun tomorrow morning. Usual wake up call?"

"Yep, best way to get the blood pumping. They can sleep in when they are ready to take care of themselves."

"Got it. You know, Sarutobi-san pulled me to the side before we left the tower."

"I noticed. Any particular reason why?"

"Yeah, he's kind of concerned about the kunoichi lessons at the Ninja Academy. The council has been running it for too long, and he's kind of concerned about it. They do too much infiltration training, he said."

"Really . . ."

"Yep, it seems like the Civilians don't like their little girls learning how to kill so early, so they try and butter them up, forgetting that infiltration missions usually require the girls to work on their backs."

"Do you want to do it, or shall I?"

"I figured we could split it. "I'm great at information gathering, so I can fill them in on the nitty-gritty, but when it comes to physical training, you are the best."

"OK then. So what do you think about those girls?"

"From the looks of it, Hinata has a huge crush on Naruto, but there is a good chance of it becoming something more, especially with our 'faux-engagement' plan. Yakumo is developing feelings for him, but it is doubtful whether they are a result of her isolation, or something more. Depending on how she acts around other guys, we'll soon find out."

"And Tenten?"

"Tricky, but I think there might be some attraction there, but her primary desire, if I have my inferences right, is to become a true kunoichi and a weapons mistress. Depending on how much she interacts with Naruto, we may find ourselves glad that this Clan Restoration Act was passed."

Kushina grimaced at the thought and then sighed.. "He is getting pretty popular, isn't he?"

"Yep, though he's not the only one."

"Oh?"

As we were coming in, I noticed two girls their age watching the booth. The Yamanaka seemed more interested in the group as a whole, but the pink haired one, a Haruno, I believe, seemed quite fixated on Gaara."

"Interesting . . . keep an eye and an ear on her; I'd like to know more."

Nabiki nodded, and then moved closer to Kushina. "So, how long do you think it will take for everyone to get back to the house?"

"About an hour or two. Why?"

Nabiki grabbed Kushina's arm and hugged it to her breast, giving her a rather heated stare. Kushina grinned at this, and then both girls instantly shushined away.

* * *

COMING UP NEXT: First training days and Naruto and Gaara go to the academy. Gaara goes home for a bit, and finds something odd in Suna. Enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

Here we go again. I will not promise quick updates of anything from here on out. I may have something out in a few weeks, only because my muse is pushing me to get the Suna Sibling reunion out ASAP. Other than that, just be patient, and don't flame me for being unreliable.

That being said, my fanfiction priorities will be: The Trouble with Past Lives, Time Travelling Martial Artists, and The Martial Artist and the Great Detective. Over the next few days, I will try to research a few decent mysteries from canon Detective Conan, and try to rewrite them to add Agatha in. I also have a possible mystery that will require her expertise, but that needs to come after a canon mystery or two.

Speaking of which, I own NOTHING! NADA! ZILCH! Do not sue me in the hopes that you will get something; all you will do is waste your money paying for the lawyer, as I have nothing to give you.

* * *

The Namikaze Compound was a western style manor hidden behind the Hokage Monument, with a large Hot Spring behind it, complete with anti-pervert seals (© Namikaze Minato, and tested against Jaraiya of the Sannin). To the side was a moderately large koi pond. It held a total of ten bedrooms, each with a half-bath, a large kitchen, and a living room.

Kushina had taken her three new residents, her two sons, and her apprentice/lover to it, and, after giving them a tour, sat them down for a talk, discussing house rules in major, and somewhat graphic, detail (in short, she said that the only ones allowed to do anything that could be found in Icha Icha would be Nabiki).

Then, she started on introductions, beginning with her children.

"Name's Uzumaki Gaara, adopted son of Uzumaki Kushina," Gaara started off. "I like dango, pizza, hanging out with my brother, my mother, my aunt, and my friends, and taking frequent naps. I dislike being awoken from said naps, and my birth-father, who is currently somewhere in Suna. I have something of a bloodline, which allows me to have an almost instinctive control over sand, which I hide up my sleeves. Because of that, I have no use for weapons." Tenten scowled at this. "My dreams are twofold: I plan on one day going back to Suna to earn the respect that I deserve, and to crush my father's testicles with my sand."

The girls couldn't help but gape at this, but Gaara shrugged it off and passed the ball to his brother. "Uzumaki Naruto at your service! I like ramen, my family and friends, and working with seals. I dislike bullies, and kidnappers. Since Gaara has control over an element, and I won't until I get my Wind Affinity up to par in a few years, I've taken to using Anki as it was meant to be used: as a hidden weapon style! I have three dreams, one of which is shared by Gaara: to become Hokage, to be able to become a Taijutsu master like my mother, and to finish the castration that my mother started on Jaraiya of the Sannin."

Again, the girls gaped, though this time their attention was split between Naruto and Kushina, but before Nabiki could say her part, Naruto interrupted.

"My Auntie Nabiki likes information, genjutsu creation, and reading several perverted books that will remain nameless in public. She also likes my mother, and is called Auntie because we can't call her anything else. She dislikes parents who lose themselves in grief, and anyone who interrupts her 'Kushina Time'. From what Mom says, she is a Genjutsu Mistress in Konoha, but in Uzu, she's about high chunin in that, and needs to create a few more before she can move up. Her dream is to live with my mother for the rest of her days.

He then nodded towards his mother. My mom, Uzumaki Kushina, is a taijutsu mistress, a Suiton Mistress, and a Jane of All Trades in most other things, as Uzu gave all their refugees copies of everyone's clan and non-clan techniques in the hopes that something would survive. She likes taijutsu, swimming, and her 'Nabiki Time', and Kami help anyone who interrupts that. She dislikes people who abuse children, and has made it her Jonin quirk to adopt poor, beaten strays and turn them into functional ninja who can kick ass! Her dream is to be able to die surrounded by a large family, which includes me and Gaara, and to see her castration of Jaraiya completed one day because he spied on a scene he shouldn't of and put it in one of his books-don't know which one and don't really care either."

He then gave his mother a look. "Also, Gaara and I would appreciate you keeping your 'sessions' behind the silencing seals; we already have enough mental issues, thank you very much."

Nabiki and Kushina blushed slightly, as both were rather loud whenever silencing seals or gags weren't involved. Kushina then cleared her throat and nodded towards Yakumo. "M-my name is Kurama Yakumo. I like Naruto for saving me from the baku, and painting. I dislike my family, and am not comfortable around the Hokage. I want to become a Genjutsu Mistress."

Tenten went next. "My name is Tenten, and I'm an orphan. I like weapons of all shapes and sizes. I dislike people who ridicule weapons, fangirls, perverts, and guys who are full of themselves. I want to become a Weapons Mistress, and a kunoichi as skilled as Tsunade-sama." Gaara smirked at this, but the other three hid theirs, as they knew Tsunade personally.

After a bit of coaching (and a low level genjutsu that helped boost her confidence), Hinata finished things up. "M-my name is Hyuuga HInata, and I like . . . " Kushina and Nabiki noticed where her eyes moved, and knew what the blush signified. " . . . flower pressing, my little sister, and my friend, Kurenai-san." Yakumo flinched, but said nothing. "I dislike the Hyuuga clan council, and the Cage Bird Seal. I want to one day outlaw the Seal, and become someone that my father can be openly proud of."

Kushina nodded. She saw much potential in each of them; all she had to do was bring it out.

After that, she had the kids make themselves at home, as she and Nabiki did the same.

Now, it was the following morning . . .

. . . and Tenten was about to get rudely awoken.

SPLASH!

Tenten's head popped out of the water, sputtering and blinking her eyes in shock. Suddenly she was hit with more water, and she looked over to find Hinata appear beside her.

"Welcome to the first day of training, ladies!"

Both girls looked over to see Kushina, watching them. "Lesson One: You must be able to wake up early, wake up at a moment's notice, and wake up when threatened. Until that happens, you will be going for a swim every morning. Now, get out of the pond, go get some dry clothes, and get back here. You've got five minutes."

She then turned around and walked away.

They entered to find Yakumo walking out of her room with wet hair and dry clothing, Nabiki standing by with a bucket in her hands. It was half past five in the morning.

Things deteriorated from there.

It wasn't that the training was bad. Kushina and Nabiki made a point to explain every method they used. However, it was long and arduous.

First, they ran around the manor until the girls could barely run anymore (Yakumo dropped first). Pushups followed, along with sit-ups and several stretches. Then, Kushina moved into yoga.

After the warm up, Kushina took Tenten and Hinata aside, while Nabiki continued an intense physical workout for Yakumo. She created a Kage Bunshin, and each redhead took the girls aside for individual training.

For Tenten, her personal Hell started with this speech: "A Weapons Master of Uzu was a dangerous figure because not only could they use any weapon, they could use anything as a weapon." Her hand flicked out, and Tenten felt something brush by her cheek. "A toothpick, for example, can be a dangerous thing in one's hand. You will start off with traditional weapons, but I expect you to start incorporating non-traditional weaponry in your style as well. However, the first weapon you must master is your own body." Kushina then charged at Tenten. "Now, DEFEND YOURSELF!"

For Hinata, Hell began with: "A ninja's personal fighting style is related to their elemental affinity. Naruto's is wind, and he tends to use an offensive aerial fighting style. Gaara's is sand, so his is more ground based and defensive. Yours is like your mother: a water element. The traditional Jyuuken style, however, is Earth based, and not at all suited for you. As a Taijutsu specialist, I picked up your mother's personal style of Jyuuken, and now I will teach you it. First though, you need a greater range of flexibility, so be ready to stretch!"

By seven, all three girls were in pain, sweating profusely, and breathing hard. At seven-fifteen, they were in the hotsprings, soothing said pain. Hinata then blinked. Too tired to stutter, she asked "P-pardon, Kushina-sensei, but where is Naruto-kun and Gaara?"

Before Kushina could answer, an explosion was heard from the woods, and a figure flew overhead. As the three young girls gawked at this, Nabiki shrugged and answered, "They have their own training session, which involves running several miles and sparring while they are at it. Eventually, you will be doing the same."

Breakfast was a rushed affair, where the three girls were treated to Uzumaki style eating, which was polite, but at a hastened pace, and involved a ton of food.

Then, they left for the Academy. Half way there, Tenten and Hinata had to be carried the rest of the way, as they were still extremely sore. This was done by Naruto and a clone, as Gaara was less inclined to stop.

Yakumo, on the other hand, continued her training with Nabiki and Kushina, who gently helped bring her physical, mental, and chakra skills up to par.

The academy was an unusual event. Both Naruto and Gaara were polite and quiet, and refused to say much. Naruto sat with Tenten and Hinata, and did his best to apologize for the rather abrupt wakeup call. Gaara, on the other hand, sat next to Nara Shikamaru, and laid his head down for a nap.

The day continued on as if almost nothing had changed (save for Sakura, who kept sneaking glances at Gaara), until when the girls usually split for Kunoichi lessons, while the guys sparred.

Tenten and Hinata paled in fright when Kushina walked through the door, saying "Hello ladies, my name is Uzumaki Kushina. Your old sensei had a little accident, so I'm taking over for her. Come with me." Then, to everyone's surprise, she looked at Naruto and said "I'm going to need my standard lecture supplies, so come along as well."

"Should I come too?" Gaara asked.

"If you want to, but you'll need to change."

". . . can I go take a nap then?"

"Go ahead."

Gaara shushined out with a twirl of sand, and Naruto stood up, grumbling, and taking a scroll out of nowhere.

As Kushina, Naruto, and the girls walked out of the classroom, Naruto emitted a small amount of smoke, and when it cleared, a redheaded female, about six inches shorter than Naruto, appeared, wearing a feminine styled outfit similar to Naruto's. Before anyone could say anything, he said, in a curt tone, "Whereas most ninja can use the Henge to create a disguise genjutsu, my brother and I have an unusual bloodline-like thing that allows us to 'henkan', or actually transform, into any shape. We mostly used it when trying to escape from people who were after us for various reasons, and Mom insisted that we have a base 'female' form to use, to help 'blend' into the background in certain situations. It is not me being a pervert, and I do not want to say anything more about it."

Hinata and Tenten stared at the unusual boy-turned-girl, and then turned to look at Kushina, who shrugged. "The technique can be used by anyone with a connection to a certain genre of animals. I can use it as well, and turning into a guy has gotten me out of sticky situations. It is extremely useful in information gathering as well." To prove this, she henkaned into a black haired, pigtailed, muscular man and back. No smoke was used.

They stopped by a copse of trees outside the academy, and Kushina turned around and waved at Naruto, who bit his finger, swiped the scroll, and through it down to the ground. A burst of smoke, and a large notepad appeared beside her on a stand. She then jumped on top of a tree branch and reclined.

Kushina turned towards the pad and flipped to the first page. In a flurry of motion, writing appeared.

Kunoichi arts are particular specialized for certain purposes, and are the most at risk during missions. Strength comes harder for us, so Taijutsu is not a popular art for us. We have smaller chakra supplies, so Ninjutsu specialists are rarely female. I am an exception to this. We are also more at risk." Her pointed gaze then turned to Ino, Sakura, and several 'hardcore' fangirls. "We are also more at risk than male ninjas. They can be killed, and that is it. We, on the other hand, can be raped."

She let a beat of silence go by, and she continued, saying "Your old sensei didn't want to talk about this. She wanted you to pick flowers and do other girly stuff. However, ignorance is not a defense; if you do not train properly, you may find yourself tied up, naked, with the smelly cock of an enemy ninja shoved up your cunt, taking what you should only give to someone you love. If you are truly unlucky, he may take a liking to you, and not let you go until you are brainwashed and cannot live without his cock, or any cock in particular."

She paced. "I know this because I not only was I almost placed in that position, I also had a friend, a close one, actually go through it without an 'almost' It was not fun, it was very painful, and neither of us were the same afterwards. You do not want to go through that."

Most of the fangirls were pale, and Ino was shaking, shocked. Sakura was pale, but was also slightly pleased with herself for taking her training seriously. Tenten and Hinata were the same.

Kushina continued to pace. "Your old teacher made this and one more mistake: training you for a particular field. She wanted you to have the background training suitable to become a Infiltration Specialist. The problem with this is such kunoichi have to, at times, willingly fuck her targets." Girls were now turning green, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten included.

"You will not be taught any of that from here on out. Instead, I will be going over your workout schedules, and ensuring that each and every one of you will be ready for the field. There will be no mooning over boys here: your knight in shining armor will not always get there in the nick of time, and you do not want to be found too late."

She continued her lecture, and ended with a sample of what they will learn, with demonstrations from Naruto and written notes on her pad. The syllabus included advanced rope escape techniques, modified sparring training, escaping from chokeholds and wrist traps, and various other techniques. She ended her lecture with this statement: If you do not take this seriously, I will not allow you to pass. If you think I sound tough, talk to Hinata, Tenten, and Naruto: I'm worse than all of their stories combined. If you are afraid, leave now. I will not think less of you."

Naruto landed and henkaned back into his male self shortly after, and escorted the girls back to the classroom, where Gaara was explaining to one Umino Iruka how sparring training would be redundant in their cases.

The next day, over half of the girls never returned.

The day after that, the same group from the day before showed up, and Kushina sent 'Naruko', as everyone called her, away, and Kushina had them move to a more private location, strip down, and then tied them up, forcing them to use a chakra technique to escape.

The next day, it turned out that only Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Tenten, and four other girls showed up. The rest abandoned the academy as the truth started to sink in. After that class (a continuation of the naked escape lesson), Sakura walked up to Kushina to ask for more training.

* * *

"You cannot keep doing this!" Sarutobi was worried. When he asked Kushina to take over the kunoichi classes, he expected her to train all of them up to par. Instead, she had scared off most of the girls in the class!

"Sarutobi-sensei, be serious: how many of those girls who quit would keep up in their training after classes? Brilliant kunoichi must be trained from the very beginning to take their training seriously. If not, you are just asking for a Jonin-sensei to come back from a mission, dragging a pregnant and beaten kunoichi with them. Do you know how bad that can be?'

They walked down the street towards the Hokage tower. It had been two weeks since Kushina and Nabiki started teaching, and the girls were getting stronger and stronger. Sakura was starting to take her training to the next level, and had started joining Kushina's Angels (a title coined by a joking Naruto, before his redheaded female form got added to the roster) for training.

In skill she was somewhere between Yakumo and Hinata in physical training, and after being studied by Kushina ("The pink hair would be a selling point for certain infiltration mission, but I don't think you want to be working in a whorehouse for the rest of your career. Not strong or determined enough to become a Taijutsu or a Weapons Specialist, and low chakra reserves . . . however, control like yours would be nice for genjutsu or Medical Techniques . . . and a mind to do both . . . I can work with this . . ."), she was taken in as another student of Nabiki's.

She also made a point to drag Ino along every other day ("Definitely a future star of the Infiltration Department, but nobody wants that position unless they are a major slut, and you are far too young to be one. Decent chakra control, but nothing special, unlike Pinky over there. Strength is about the same, though you may be slightly more determined . . . the Yamanaka bloodline would be useful in the Interrogation Department, but I don't think I can help with that . . . "). In the end, Ino was also passed off on Nabiki, but Kushina made a point to visit the Yamanaka compound, get together with her old friend Yamanaka Izumi, and suggest a training regiment for Ino.

She was in pain for the next month, so much so that she couldn't stalk Sasuke anymore while he was out on missions.

However, despite the fact that those girls still in the ninja program were taking things far more seriously than usual, the Civilians were not happy when they found out that their babies were scared out of the academy.

"Look," Kushina finally argued, "if they want their little princesses to be raped by violent ninja to the point that they can barely think, then send them to a whorehouse or something. I will not allow them to go like that. Besides, do you think that any one of those girls would have made the cut?"

Before he could retort, both nin heard a mighty shout from around the block. Kushina's eyes lit up. "Is that Gai-kun? Man, he was the best student I ever took before Naruto was born. How is he . . . "

Five figures, two in green, two in Uchiha blue, and one in Hyuuga cream cleared the block, and Kushina saw red . . .

* * *

"That fool! That inconsiderate bastard! That . . . that . . . "

Naruto, Gaara, and the Angels (Ino was out today) watched Kushina pace back and forward. Five minutes ago, they had walked in to find the redheaded Jonin pacing back and forth, muttering insults under her breath. Naruto looked up to the stairs, and noticed Nabiki leading a young boy, genin by the looks of it, wearing green Chinese tangs similar to his and Gaara's outfits. He had coal black eyes, freshly trimmed eyebrows, and a bowl cut.

"Kids, meet Rock Lee, another addition to the group. He just recently came back from a mission, and will be staying with us for a bit," she said.

Sakura blinked, and then snapped her fingers. "Hey, I know you; you were that creepy, bushy eye-browed guy that's on Sasuke's team, right?"

Lee, having been insulted by his crush, flinched back, but Tenten just rolled her eyes, thinking _'Fangirl . . . '_

Gaara, on the other hand, blinked. "So he's the third member of that team with the stuck up Hyuuga bastard and the emo Uchiha? Wow, poor guy . . . "

To Tenten's immense surprise, Sakura giggled at that comment, "Actually, I think I'd pity them. This is the first time I've seen him not screaming about 'Youth' at the top of his lungs."

Kushina blinked at this, and then glared at Gaara. "You knew about this travesty?!?"

"Nope. I ran into the Hyuuga and the Uchiha the day after we arrived. I hung around for five minutes, watching them sulk, when my Nabiki senses went off. I got out of there fast."

"N-Nabiki senses?" Hinata asked, curious.

Nabiki smirked, while Naruto gave the customary explanation. "Auntie Nabiki has a devious mind, and has created several different genjutsu that will give even the toughest men nightmares for life. Hang around her long enough, and you may learn some of them. Anyways, after being subjected to a few of the lesser ones, we have developed a sense that tells us when something as weird and freaky as that comes our way."

"Really, and what would this sense save you from?" Yakumo asked.

"Once saved us from seeing Jaraiya naked." Everyone blinked and stared at Gaara, who shrugged. "Hey, who in their right minds would want to stare at a naked, old, wrinkled man being chased by Mom and Auntie." He then wrinkled his nose. "Oh yeah, that's something else it saved us from seeing."

Both older kunoichi laughed at the two boys, who were shivering in disgust and mental trauma. The other girls just stared, wondering what they got themselves into.

Lee, on the other hand, just stood there, feeling awkward, until Kushina, who was the first to stop laughing, looked at her two sons and said, "Can you two take Lee-kun out and hang out, maybe spar a bit? Don't hold back much; his Jonin Instructor focused on Taijutsu in his education, and his work ethic is greater than yours, if that's even possible."

Lee, having heard the word 'spar', immediately shifted his posture. Raising his fist into the air, he yelled, "Yosh, I will show you how brightly my . . . " He was cut off mid rant by a slap to the back of his head.

"None of that now," Kushina chided. " Gai may have taught you a proper work ethic and fighting style, but he should have never passed on his Jonin quirk until you were mid-chunin. You have to learn how to socialize without freaking people out, and first on our list of things to do is to tone down the yelling. The flames of youth are all well and good, but it will not help you get in a relationship with anyone!"

Lee nodded hesitantly, and then followed Naruto outside. Kushina turned her gaze upon Gaara, who had an unusually serious look himself. "Naruto can handle Lee for a while; I need to talk with you about something . . . "

Kushina nodded, face impassive. "You need to go back to Suna for a while, don't you."

Sakura froze up in shock as Gaara nodded. "Suna may not be my home, but I still have family there. I need to go see my brother and sister, and make sure that the old bastard hasn't done anything bad to them. There is also Uncle Yashamaru to check in with." He then smiled. "I should be back within a week or two, maybe even shorter if the cats give me a ride."

"Wait, aren't you Gaara's mother? Why would he have family in Suna?" Both redheads looked at Sakura, who had never been informed about Gaara's 'adopted' status.

While Kushina pondered just how to explain something like this to Sakura, Gaara looked thoughtful for a moment, and then sighed. "Auntie Nabiki told you guys the basic spiel on Fuinjutsu, right?" When everyone nodded (and Kushina and Nabiki gave him worried looks), he continued, "Then if you were to seal a kunai into a sealing scroll, would the final product be a kunai, or a scroll?"

The girls blinked, and then Tenten, who had taken a keen interest in the Sealing Arts, replied, "Uh, you'd have a scroll," as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The redheaded male grinned. "Congratulations. You are far more intelligent than most Civilians. Keep that in mind on this next lesson, and you will automatically be smarter than a large portion of the ninja in Konoha and Suna."

He shifted his posture into that of a lecturer. "Twelve years ago, my father wanted to create a weapon. The Daimyo had started cutting our funds, and he had to do something to save face. He managed to find a Seal User, and had him do a job for him. The guy was loyal, and did exactly as he asked."

The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, as he scowled. "They took the Kazekage's pregnant wife, and created a seal array with her unborn son in the center of it. Using the poor woman as a sacrifice, they sealed the Ichibi no Tanuki into the child's body."

As the girls gasped, he went on. "The problems with this were two-fold. First, the seal was not strong enough to hold the Tanuki back, so whenever the child went to sleep, he would take over and try to build his strength. By the time the child was one, it had already built up enough strength to control the sands around the boy using chakra. He created a kekkei genkai out of it, and set it to attack anyone who tried to come near him."

"Second, despite the beast within him, he was still a child: innocent, naïve, and kind-hearted. He could not control his sand, and did not understand why everyone was afraid of him, just because of a Tanuki stuck in his gut. Only two people overtly cared for him, and of those two, only his Uncle would go near him."

"Third, at the age of one and a half, the Tanuki gained the ability to physically take over his container when he went to sleep, allowing him to cause chaos whenever he slept. For six years, he could never sleep, or else he could hurt someone, and he didn't want that."

Suddenly, the chill went away, and Gaara turned his eyes to Kushina. "For seven years the boy lived like this, in pain and fear, until the day when two women and a young boy about his age came near Suna. The boy was wandering around outside because his father had started trying to kill him off, and it was easier to spot and stop assassins in the desert. When they found him, they recognized what he was, but instead of turning away in fear and disgust, they offered him salvation. They fixed the seal, and gave him a family that loved and cared for him; a second mother, an Aunt/third mother, and a brother who thought that his sand abilities were cool."

His gaze turned to the girls, who had realized what he was saying, and were silently crying. When he saw this, he smiled. "They gave me a home."

Finally, Sakura could take it no more, and with a sob, she threw herself onto Gaara, crying her heart out. The boy blinked at this, and then rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shoulder.

As everyone else sat there in tears, Sakura muttered something. As Kushina and Nabiki strained to hear it, Gaara smiled softly, and replied, "But I have to go, Sakura-chan. My father may be a royal bastard, but my Uncle tried to help me when he could, and my older sister always tried to take care of me, even if she never got that close physically. I can't really blame her for it either; before Mom fixed my seal, it was pretty bad, and scared even me half the time."

"I must go, if only to offer those who cared for me a way of escaping my father. I cannot simply stand by and not offer them the same chance that was given to me."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Gaara came upon a few Naruto clones taking on Lee. He went up to the original, who was standing at the side, and told him, "Mom and Auntie Nabiki have given me their blessing; I leave tomorrow morning."

Naruto nodded sadly. "You sure you don't need any help? I'd come with you in a heart beat."

Gaara shook his head. "No, I'll be fine. Sakura-chan doesn't like me leaving as it is; I shudder to think what will happen to Hinata and Yakumo if you have to leave as well. Tenten, too, though I doubt she'd admit it."

The blonde nodded. "Still, if you need any help, call me. I may not have mastered it yet, but as long as you have that kunai . . . "

"Understood. Want any souvenirs?"

"A picture of your father having his nuts crushed would be nice."

Gaara laughed, "Baka!"

Both teens stood there for a while, watching Lee take out another clone, while a second kicked him in the back of his head. Then Gaara said, "I told them about me . . . and the raccoon."

Naruto snapped his head around, eyes panicked, mouth open, but Gaara interrupted him, saying, "They were in tears at the end of the story . . . crying for me . . . I've only ever seen someone cry for me like that once . . . " He gazed off in the distance, as Naruto just stared at him.

Finally, he told Naruto, "Sooner or later, the story of the Fox will have to come out. Mom and Auntie Nabiki taught them about sealing, and when her first lecture includes how some of the best masters can seal a second soul inside a person, the ground is set. They know about me, and it makes no difference to them. Someday, if you and HInata end up finalizing this fake engagement, or if you decide to go with or add one of the other girls, you will have to tell her, tell them, about what is inside of you."

Naruto looked conflicted for a moment, and then looked down, silent. They sat there for a few minutes, and then he said, softly, "I'm scared. Everyone hated me for the longest time here. I was practically alone most of the time . . . even you had Yashamaru-san. I don't want to . . . "

"I know Naruto, neither do I. Problem is, you just can't hide forever, and unlike you, I already have an admirer who knows, so I have no worries about losing a few friends, though it is nice to know that Sakura cares for me despite it." He then jumped to his feet. "Enough about this; are we going to sit here forever, or are we going to see what this 'Rock Lee' kid is made of?"

Naruto nodded, got up, and smirked. "Be careful out there; Lee doesn't look like it, but he hits HARD!"

The two brothers jumped into the fray, grinning like lunatics as they joined the fight.

* * *

COMING UP NEXT: Gaara returns to Suna, and chases out a serpent. He meets his family, and gains another admirer. Meanwhile, life goes on in Konoha, and Naruto and Sasuke finally meet. Enjoy the wait!


	8. Chapter 8

I own nothing; in fact, I seem to owe quite a lot. I have nothing to give you but my debt!

Consider this part of my last volley for now. Things are heating up, and I've got to keep swimming. 60% of this has been sitting for the past week and a half, and I only decided to finish this now.

I will also be posting two other items on . The first is the start of a series of beginnings . . . kind of like what other authors do with rampant story ideas. I may put up the start of a new story, or I may put up a funny omake that was spit out of my head. The second will be a project that I used to work on with Tellemicus Sundance: Presenting the return of Saotome Shinji: Final Duty.

Enjoy all this because it will be my last posting for a while.

* * *

The sun beat down on Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, and everyone was inside, excluding those on guard duty. The streets were dirty and poor, and dry winds swept sand onto the stoops of the houses.

In the Kazekage's Tower, five people stood. The first was the Yondaime Kazekage, and of the other four, two of them were his children, Subaku no Temari and Subaku no Kankuro, and the fourth was his ex-wife's brother, Yashamaru. The fifth was a young orphan named Matsuri.

The Kazekage stood from behind his desk, and looked at the other four. "I assume you've already read the mission briefings, so I'll be curt: you four are to infiltrate Konoha and scout its defenses during the Chunin Exams there. Once the Third Exam has begun, and the signal has been given, you are to take out the other genin, and then begin with the Civilians who will be watching. You will leave no survivors."

Temari, a tall, statuesque blonde with bluish-grey eyes, and Kankuro, a puppet user who wore the customary, costume like garb of his profession, nodded solemnly along with their Uncle, a taller blond haired man. They had been trained for this, and were no strangers to killing. Matsuri, a short-haired brunette, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant, but nodded anyways after a moment.

Two of the three genin were fresh out of the Genin Exams, but both Temari and Kankuro were already at the point where they could be called low Chunin, and they had six more months in which to train. Maturi, on the other hand, was solid genin level, but was no stranger to hard work. They would be ready when the time came.

However, that was not to be.

As the Kazekage went on about the specifics of their mission, a voice interrupted from by the window: "You know, it isn't nice to impersonate someone and then use them in an invasion plan."

All five ninja jumped and whirled around to find a young boy with red hair, light blue eyes, and strange black markings around them. He wore loose cargo pants and a black, Chinese-styled shirt with red trimming. A lazy smile was on his face, and his posture was relaxed.

Temari and Kankuro reached for the bundles on their backs, but the boy waved it off. "If I wanted you dead, I would have done it already." He then turned his gaze to the Kazekage, "You know, you are rather lucky that I knew you weren't the Kazekage."

The Subaku siblings, Matsuri, and Yashamaru blinked in confusion, as the man they knew as the Kazekage replied, "What are you talking about? Who the Hell are you? How did you get in?"

The boy was unimpressed. "Most of the ninja here don't use their sense of smell much, but mine is still keen; you reek of snake and odd chemicals. Most of those chemicals are illegal and far too expensive for a place like this to have, and only one ninja in all of the Hidden Villages smells of snakes as much as you do." The boy then smirked, "As for whom I am, I believe you may have ran into my mother a few months ago in Ame, isn't that right, Orochimaru-san?"

The other four ninja blinked and looked to their leader for his rebuttal, but instead, they found him just standing there, mouth agape. After a few minutes, he closed it, and then finally, softly, hissed out, in a voice not his own, "An Uzumaki . . . I did not know that you were in town . . . "

"The redhead shrugged. "We aren't. I just came to run a few errands and stuff; the rest of our group has already settled in Konoha. Considering the difference in power between Suna and Konoha as of right now, you may want to switch to one of your backup alliances anyways though. Also, could you take off that face please? One of my errands was to tear off the Yondaime Kazekage's testicles, and I have itchy trigger fingers, if you get my drift."

To the surprise and horror of the other occupants of the room, the man they thought was the Kazekage reached up and tore off his face, revealing the pale, snake-like visage of Orochimaru himself. "Kukuku . . . and what, dear child, is to stop me from killing you off, and then continuing as planned."

"I am a Kage Bunshin; the real me is outside of the village, waiting with a Neko summons to run right back to Konoha, where my mother is. If you manage to catch him, the cat will just summon itself to my mother, who will stop at nothing to tear you limb from limb. Also, my Aunt has already taken stock of Suna's forces, and if push comes to shove, we could easily take you, despite Otogakure's forces being a relative unknown." Each of these points was delivered casually, without a care in the world.

It was somewhat creepy to the other four.

However, the boy wasn't done yet. "However, if you are kind enough to leave Suna without killing everyone, including myself and the occupants of this room, I would be willing to . . . forget . . . that I even heard of an invasion. Mind you, Auntie Nabiki already knows about it, but nobody feels like saying anything about it as it is; my mother was trying to improve Konoha's spy network since before my brother's birth, so it would serve those old buzzards right for ignoring her."

Orochimaru blinked. He was not expecting something like this. "I see, and is there anything else we should be agreeing on?"

The boy rubbed his chin, "I would be careful with allying with Kumo; they may have a desire for the Byakugan, but my brother is kinda engaged with one of their heiresses, and Mom might not be too happy if something were to happen to her. I would advise going with Ame or Iwa . . . oh, and Mom has friends in Kiri, so stay out of there."

The snake Sannin was getting curious now. "Why are you helping me like this?" he hissed.

"My family may have connections with Konoha, but none of us are impressed with it so far. We have our friends, and will protect them with all that we have, but the village itself has yet to redeem itself." Then the boy shrugged, "Plus, there is always the chance that you'd manage to somehow kill off Danzo, and that is always something to look forward too."

The sannin, oddly impressed, smiled. "You are quite an . . . interesting specimen."

Gaara blinked, and then waved his hands in front of himself. "Hey, sorry old man, but I don't swing like that! I've already heard enough about your 'experiments', and I want no part of them, voluntary or involuntary, got that?"

Orochimaru laughed, and then hissed. "Ssso be it. I will leave and reconcile my planssss without harming anyone; it is still early enough that I can easssily change things without too much damage." He then leered at the boy. "However, if fortune should find us together again without your mother around, I may decide to take . . . liberties."

As the snake sannin shushined away, the boy paled, and then grumbled, "My original is gonna need a new pair of underwear after I disperse." He then burst into smoke.

As the four ninja stood there, stunned by what just happened, they jumped and nearly attacked when the boy appeared to shushin back into the room. Yashamaru, the Jonin sensei of their team, held them back. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" he asked.

The boy blinked, and then pouted. "Why Uncle Yashamaru, I'm shocked! How could you forget your favorite nephew?"

The man blinked, and then gasped. Temari, the smartest genin in the group (as she had graduated a year ago before the other two), also gasped, having figured out the relationship. However, whereas Yashamaru was stunned into silence, she was not. "G-Gaara?" she whispered.

Uzumaki Gaara, formerly Subaku no Gaara, looked at her, and a few tears came to his eyes. Suddenly, too fast for anyone to see, much less react to, he flew at the girl and tackled her in a hug. "Nee-chan!"

Temari found herself holding her youngest brother like she always wished she could, as Kankuro, Matsuri, and Yashamaru stood there, just staring at the unusual scene before them.

* * *

"So let me get this straight:" Kankuro said, "A wandering Seal Mistress, her lover, and her son ran into you outside of Suna, where she immediately offered to fix your seal, and then offered you a place in her family? Do you have any idea how suspicious that sounds?"

Gaara shrugged and grinned. "Kushina-kaa-san (Mother Kushina) has this thing about taking in strays; if it were up to her, we'd have gone back to Konoha with about fifty other orphans, but they all had things to keep them where they were . . . though we may end up with another brother or sister sometime in the future; I think there was a bastard Uchiha who was offered training when she came of age."

Yashamaru, who had kept silent, finally asked, "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'bastard Uchiha? And why are you calling this woman 'mother'?"

"Apparently, some Uchiha males had this thing about forcing themselves on foreign women and then erasing the memory using Sharingan based genjutsu; most of them, after hearing what ninja life is all about, decided to stay Civilians for the rest of their lives, but there are a fair few who had nothing better to do, or dreamed of becoming ninja enough to not be deterred. We left a few of them with friends of ours, but one or two had caretakers of their own that they weren't willing to leave yet, so we just left them with a few training scrolls and stuff."

Gaara then lost his smile. "As for Kushina-kaa-san . . . I never knew my birth-mother, and no one else was willing to take the position. She loved me like she did Naruto-nii-san, and taught me everything I know. As for her being there at the right time, she's more of a specialist than a master at Fuinjutsu. What she's really good at are teaching, Taijutsu, and Suiton jutsu." He then winked at his brother, "Be nice to her, and she may even teach you a few trick."

"I doubt that; obviously she doesn't know much about puppetry."

"True, but she is quite skilled in the use of chakra strings." Gaara quipped back. He then turned to Temari, "She is also has a few unique Futon techniques, and can probably give you some useful combat advice."

Matsuri, who had also kept quiet, asked, "I-is there anything she can help me with, G-Gaara-sempai?"

Gaara blinked, and then got up and walked around the girl, making her even more nervous. "Matsuri-san, right? Let's see . . . too plain as of right now to specialize in seduction, though why any girl would want to do something like that is beyond me . . . not much physically, so Taijutsu is out . . . however, you do have decent control . . . genjutsu, maybe? Oh, an Earth type! Mom has been looking to work with that . . . though what's this? A minor stock of lighting chakra? Interesting . . . maybe a new kekkei genkai in the making . . . "

Yashamaru, Temari, and Kankuro blinked at his assessment; no one had ever been able to tell what someone was good at right from the start, and it usually took weeks of experimentation to get that out. However, Temari was incensed at his rather sexist comments at the beginning. "Hey, what do you mean 'too plain for seduction?"

Gaara blinked, and then poofed into smoke, being replaced by a buxom blond female with the same eyes and markings as Gaara, wearing a pair of short shorts and a halter top. "Seduction specialists need to have big breasts, long legs, fair skin, pouty lips, and exotic hair and eyes," she said, gesturing at the parts of her body as she referenced them. "Also, the girl in question needs to be willing to whore herself out at a moment's notice. Honestly, being able to be a seduction mistress and being cute are two completely different things."

She then emitted more smoke, and was then replaced by normal Gaara, who turned to Matsuri, "So don't think I was insulting you; you are pretty cute."

Matsuri blushed at this, but Gaara ignored it, and turned back to his sister. "You, on the other hand, would make a pretty decent Seduction Mistress, but again, why would anyone WANT to do that?"

"Uh . . . Gaara, not to seem . . . weird, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't a henge . . ." Yashamaru began.

The redhead grinned. "Yep! Turns out, anyone with a connection to certain animals can actually shape shift into any form they want to. Raccoons are one of these animals, so I consider it a fringe benefit to being the Ichibi's container. It's really useful when trying to escape pursuers, as all you need to do is get out of their sight and morph into a cute girl, and no one pays you much attention unless they are perverts."

Yashamaru blinked, and then shook his head. "I hate to say it, but I guess I owe this 'Uzumaki Kushina' one."

Wait a minute," Kankuro yelped, "first you were annoyed that he was calling this woman 'mother', and now you owe her one? How's that?"

Yashamaru was silent for a moment, and then sat down and looked at Gaara. "I need to apologize to you Gaara. Back when you stayed with me, I always believed that you were all that was left of my dead sister. However, the fact that you held the thing that took her away from me hurt, and I couldn't always keep you separate from it, especially with that sand of yours."

He then sighed. "Did you know that if you came back that night, six years ago, I would have been forced to try and assassinate you?" At Gaara's shocked look, he nodded. "Your father ordered me earlier that day to kill you, and because it was so close to your mother's birthday, I was depressed and didn't fight it. I knew the odds of me killing you were slim to none, but still, the fact that I tried would potentially set you off, and I would have had my revenge on both you and your father by turning you into something he couldn't use, and ruining the only happy thing in your life." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

Gaara stood there for a moment, and then knelt in front of his Uncle, "You are forgiven." When the man protested, he added, "I know I wasn't the best nephew to have, always up at night, and unable to touch anyone without hurting them, but I've changed. The demon is sealed away, and I have full control of my sand." He followed through by allowing a little bit of it to trickle out of his sleeves, and make shapes on the floor. "I was a reminder of both good and bad things before; now, I hope I can be a reminder of only the good, so I forgive you, Uncle Yashamaru."

Said man burst into tears at that, and then hugged his nephew with all his strength.

It was not the last gesture of pure love that day, but it was the most emotional

* * *

Back in Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee were meditating underneath a tree. Naruto was, uncharacteristically, almost as still as stone. Lee, on the other hand, kept quivering. Having been told all his life that he would never be able to use chakra, the boy was ecstatic to learn that Kushina could teach him how to utilize something similar. There was only one problem: in order to access it, he'd have to learn meditation.

It was slow going teaching him, but Naruto never backed down from a challenge.

Also, meditation helped him keep his mind off of what his mother was training the girls in now . . .

"Uzumaki-san!"

However, it was not to be.

Yuhi Kurenai, just recently returning from a mission, was walking towards him-or more correctly, she was walking towards the Namikaze Compound, which he was supposed to blockade for a while. The older kunoichi had heard about certain events that occurred during her absence, and she was eager to find out what was going on.

Naruto, looking up, noticed that she was being followed by three other people. One was a Hyuuga genin, Neji, who looked like he was constipated or something. The second was the lone Uchiha in the village, Sasuke, looking quite agitated.

"Oi, Nai-chan!"

The third was a taller, purple-haired woman who wore something out of the perverted Sannin's dreams.

The two boys hung back trying to look unimportant at the moment, as the two women walked towards them. Naruto, after quietly ordering Lee back into his meditation, got up to greet them.

"I am sorry, but my mother is not available right now. If you wish, you can speak to me, and if it is important, I will let her know later," he told them.

Kurenai frowned at the boy, but quietly told him, "I wish to check on Hinata-chan. I walked her to school and back when she was younger, and she was almost like a daughter to me. I would also like to speak to you and your mother about this . . . arrangement . . . I've heard about."

Naruto ignored the frown. "I'm sorry, but you will have to come back at a later time; my mother is doing special training with Hinata-chan and a few other girls, and she does not want anyone to walk in on them. Besides, I'm not sure if Yakumo-chan is ready to confront you as of yet."

The pale, red-eyed jounin blinked at this. "Wha . . . "

Her companion, however, snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "Oh yeah, that's what I forgot!" Noticing Kurenai's odd look, she explained, "It seems that the Kurama brat that the Hokage ordered you to deal with had an honest to Kami demon stuck in her head; somehow, one of the Uzumaki's managed to exorcise it or something, and she is currently undergoing training with . . . with . . . "

"Nabiki," Naruto supplied.

"That's it!" the woman exclaimed, as she shrugged, showcasing her cleavage for the boy, as well as an unusual mark on her neck.

Kurenai, on the other hand, was shocked. She had always thought of Yakumo as her first student, but at the time, she was far too inexperienced a teacher to do anything with her. Plus, as they had all believed that Yakumo's powers were uncontrolled due to mental issues, she had been ordered to seal her chakra up. But if it were a demon . . .

Naruto's eyes widened, and hesnap his fingers, "And you are Mitarashi Anko, correct?"

This caused Anko to blink at him, and then narrow her eyes, "Why yes, I am . . . how did you know? I'm pretty sure I removed the picture in my file ages ago . . . "

The blonde's face took and unusually serious look as he replied, "Maybe, but I've heard enough about you to figure it out. Besides, only one Konoha nin has . . . THAT . . . on her."

Anko flinched, reaching for the curse seal on her throat, and was about to snap at the kid when the three heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. They whirled around to find Neji, unconscious, with blood dripping down his cheek.

Naruto twitched. "False alarm; the pervert just peeked." He then walked over and hit a few pressure points on the boy.

Kurenai and Anko blinked at him, "Peeked? Peeked at what?"

For a moment, the sun-kissed Uzumaki looked conflicted, but then he sighed and waved the two older women close. "Long story short, Mom believes that a ninja should be ready to fight whenever, wherever, and however he or she needs to fight, no matter the weather, the time of night, or the state of dress he or she is in. She is currently training the girls in that last one.

Kurenai cocked her head, confused, but Anko blinked and then laughed, "I think I like how your mom thinks, kid."

"Thanks . . . I think . . . "

The genjutsu mistress of Konoha looked over at her friend, "You know what he's talking about?"

Anko shrugged, "Rochi-chan was always going on about this kind of thing. One of the biggest dangers a kunoichi, or any ninja, in fact, can face is to be ambushed while in the onsen. Enemy ninja who would do that use modesty against us, as most would try and cover the important bits. However, if the ninja in question has no modesty, they can take down the ambusher without too much trouble if they play things right."

Kurenai blinked, and then widened her eyes, "Wha . . . how would you train in something like that?"

"Muscle memory." The two jonin looked at the kid. "Mom trained Gaara in eye to react at a moment's notice to things like that, whether we were dressed or not. That's why I can't let you go by yet: the girls are not in a state of dress that they would be comfortable with anyone other than their instructors." He then shrugged, "She did the same thing to me and Gaara, and it really helped when we actually were ambushed like that a few times since then."

"You can never be too prepared!" a voice cried out from the other side of the path. Turning, Naruto saw Nabiki jogging towards them wearing a white dressing gown. "The girls have already retired to the onsen if you want to go back, Naru-chan, but first, do you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Yuhi Kurenai-san is here to check up on Hinata-chan and Yakumo-chan; she just got the news. Mitarashi Anko-san is here with her, so you may want to take her along. The unconscious Hyuuga was a pervert and will get a perverts fate." As he said this, two kage bunshins poofed into existence, stepped over the boy, and then shushined away. "As for the Uchiha . . . I'll take care of him."

He then walked over, grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt, and then dragged him, kicking and screaming, away from the house.

* * *

"You didn't have to do that, dobe!" Sasuke snapped at the blonde who just finished manhandling.

All he got was a shrug and a reply, "It was funny, so sue me."

"Hn."

Both boys stood there glaring at each other, until Naruto sighed and asked, "OK, what is it that you want, Uchiha-san."

Said boy gave him a pointed look. "I want your Mom to train me."

"No."

Sasuke flinched, as if stunned. Nobody had ever refused him like that, but Naruto went on. "I've read your file. Resurrecting your clan is one thing, but going after your brother for revenge is not something we Uzumaki are interested in doing. Besides," Naruto's looked away from the conversation, "you don't have the full story yet."

"WHAT!?! HOW DARE YOU-"

"Here," the Uchiha's rant stopped as a piece of paper was shoved in his face. "Follow these directions, and you will find a book you should look into; your late father's diary, I believe. Read it, and you will find that everything is not how it seems."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan to check for genjutsu, but all it was, was a paper with writing on it. He looked up to find cold blue eyes staring into his. "The Uzumaki Clan uses its strength to defend the innocent and to protect those that are precious to us. We do not do revenge. I was nice about this today, because I've read your file, and I know what it is like to be alone. Try again, and I will kick your ass so hard that you'll never be able to sit down for the rest of your life, got it?"

Naruto then walked away, leaving Uchiha Sasuke, last of the Uchiha Clan, shaking in his shoes.

* * *

Kurenai and Anko were lead into the Namikaze Manor and into the sitting room, where Kushina sat waiting, wearing the same robe Nabiki wore. After introducing them to her, Nabiki stretched and then headed out to the onsen herself, taking her robe off as she walked.

"So," Kushina asked, crossing your legs, "what, exactly, can I do for you two?"

Kurenai replied firmly, "I heard that Hinata-chan, someone who I had walked from the academy and back as a little girl, had been married off to another clan. I thought I'd look into it, and make sure that she was OK. She . . . IS OK, right?"

Kushina grinned, "If you consider being sore and slightly embarrassed from a full afternoon from working out without any clothing on 'OK', then she is. Seriously though, she is having a great time. As for being married off," she shrugged, loosening the robe a bit in the process, "technically, it is more of a political maneuvering that we are using to thwart a few old men who think they can control things as they are."

"Oh?"

"Hiashi has been pitting both sisters against each other in order to try and delay having to put the cage bird seal on one of them. When he started running out of excuses, he came to me, hoping I could come up with something as one of the few Konoha nin with the ability to fight a user of Jyuuken and win. I get Hinata, he gets to throw the seal away, and the Hyuuga Elders get to come up with ways to get around me without getting castrated." At the shocked looks she was getting, she giggled, "Mind you, the only thing that would keep that from happening is if they kept their problems to themselves, but they'd never do that, so I'll have to find a nice dull, rusty knife to use later."

A beat of silence followed, and then Anko started cackling madly, "I don't give a damn what anyone says, Uzumaki; you are one cold bitch!"

"Coming from someone the village refers to as the 'Snake Bitch', I'll take that as a compliment," the redhead quipped with a smirk.

Kurenai waited for the laughter to die down, and then continued her inquiry. "I also heard that you had an old student of mine . . . Kurama Yakumo? How is she doing?"

Kushina frowned at the question, but replied, "In terms of training, she is doing pretty well; Nabiki has taken over her physical training for the most part, and she is becoming quite a bit stronger, almost strong enough to possibly pass the lower requirements needed to become a genin kunoichi. Without the baku messing up her control, she is regaining her hold on her chakra, though her reserves are a bit larger than normal. She excels at genjutsu theory, which is probably due to her previous tutoring under you. However, she is still a bit hurt inside because of how you ended your sessions together."

"I was ordered to do so by the Sandaime Hokage himself. I had no choice," Kurenai said back.

"I understand, and I have told her that. However, the heart is not always logical, and it is still sore from your last encounter. In time, if you hang around long enough, you may be able to gain some measure of trust back, but I would advise being cautious. I can ensure you though that she has one of the best genjutsu mistresses in the Elemental Nations teaching her."

Kurenai blinked, "The best . . . ?"

"I apologize for seeming rude, but Konoha has been degraded in its quality of genjutsu users. I understand that you are considered a Genjutsu mistress yourself, but compared to the Genjutsu users of Uzu, you would only rank to be chunin, and those who taught you would rank even less than that! Nabiki-chan, on the other hand, has been taught by yours truly, and though I may not be a mistress, I have enough resources to set someone on the proper path to mastery of most skills. If you wish, you may talk to her later, and you can share genjutsu among each other."

The jonin genjutsu mistress was lost. For the past ten years she had been training in genjutsu. Her teacher was . . . competent, if only because he didn't have anything better to do and didn't stare at her body for too long. For all intents in purposes, she had considered herself a Genjutsu Mistress for the past three years!

However, among other ninja circles (besides her old trainer, who died of alcohol poisioning five years ago), the genjutsu masters and mistresses of Uzugakure were legendary, said to be almost as powerful as the last true heir of the Kurama bloodline. There art was a secretive one, and also one that was considered lost in the destruction of Uzu. To be able to meet someone like that . . . who had learned Uzu's genjutsu style . . .

"S-Sure! I'd be happy to talk with her!" she stuttered, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

* * *

COMING UP: Time speeds up. Gaara returns to Konoha and speaks with Naruto about the danger of girls. Yakumo starts to come to terms with Kurenai. The Genin Exams loom in the distance . . .

Stay tuned!


	9. Chapter 9

I own nothing; in fact, I seem to owe quite a lot. I have nothing to give you but my debt! You want it?

TAKE IT!

This was written a while ago, but my hard drive crashed on me and I had to rewrite this bastard when they couldn't properly retrieve a file such as this. Annoying, right? So please, any insanity throughout this can be pinned on having to redo this.

This will be my last self-written chapter for spring. Wait for summer, and you'll get more.

One last note: please remember that Nabiki is Kushina's apprentice. Therefore, in formal settings, respect must be given to the position, despite the fact that they share a bed with each other.

* * *

The sun rose brightly on the Namikaze compound over a week after Orochimaru's flight from Suna, and as four young girls dragged themselves out of the house, hair dripping wet and attitudes dark . . .

BOOM!

. . . They knew something was up.

Naruto flew from the tree cover, slamming back-first into a rock by the pond. As the girls watched wide-eyed and Kushina and Nabiki ran over to check what was going on, Lee, not wearing any of his weights, sprang out of the forest line. Naruto barely moved in time before Lee's fist shattered the rest of the rock.

"Get him to go all out, she says," Naruto muttered, "Those weights can't be THAT heavy, she says. Kami, where's Gaara when you need him!?!" He moved out of the way of the green genin's foot, and then summoned more clones to gain some space.

The amount of smoke that followed showed that it wouldn't be enough.

One by one, Nabiki, Hinata, Yakumo, Sakura, and Tenten turned their eyes towards Kushina, who was just blinking at the fight scene. "Damn . . . maybe there is something to those jumpsuits Gai is always wearing . . . "

The ground shook from their face faults.

Suddenly, Lee lunged for Naruto, who was still trying to maneuver into a better position. Nabiki could see Kushina tense, as both women knew that that hit could possibly do some major damage. However, before either could move, a torrent of sand slammed into Lee's side, slamming him through several trees.

"Gaara-kun!" Sakura exclaimed loudly, as the redhead leapt next to his brother.

"Let me guess: Mom wanted to find out how tough Lee can be at his best?" he asked Naruto.

The blonde's eyes twitched, "Is there something you forgot to tell me?" he asked?

Gaara shrugged. "Not really. I just took the opportunity to check out that brand of weight he uses. They're made by a seal master over in Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning). Apparently, these were specially preordered by Gai-san himself, or so he told me when I asked." All of this was delivered in a distracted tone of voice, as torrents of sand continued to chase the Green Genin around.

Naruto blinked at this. "You know, normally, I am the personal information person, y'know?"

"Is there anything about this guy that screams 'normal' to you?"

"Point . . . so how was Suna? Bring me any souvenirs?" Naruto joked, only half serious, as he added several clones to the battle who leapt in between the torrents in a guerilla tactical pattern.

"Sorry, but it seems that a certain snake already killed my bastard Old Man. By the time I got there, the corpse was already rotting. Best I could do was crush it in my sand, and it wasn't very picturesque. Did get to meet my brother, sister, and Uncle again."

"Yeah?"

By this time, they had managed to fight Lee back into the tree line. Clones were still popping by the dozen, and Lee was getting used to the way the sand attacked him, so things were heating back up. However, both boys just stood on a treelimb, talking. Kushina had created a clone to watch them, as she lead the girls back to their pre-assigned torture . . . I mean training sessions.

"Cool. I hope to meet them someday soon. Y'know, Sakura has been pretty down ever since you left."

Gaara's calm countenance broke as he grimaced. "Yeah, about that . . . "

"Got another one?" Naruto grinned at his brother.

"You're one to talk! You've got three girls in one fell shot!"

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who had a girl chasing after him at age nine!"

Both boys got into fight positions, facing each other, and then sighed. "You ever get the feeling that we are somehow related to this Saotome guy that Mom told us stories about when we were kids?" Naruto asked.

"At least we have the Clan Restoration Act on our side. They can't trap us by honor at this point," Gaara pointed out.

"Yeah, now they get to fight over who goes first!" the blonde snarked.

A period of silence hit both boys, marred only by Lee, killing clones and dodging sand. Finally, Naruto turned to Gaara and asked, "We're both fucked, aren't we?"

The redhead looked back at him. "You do know that if Ero-sennin was around, he'd say something about going out with a smile on our faces right about now, right?"

"So we just have to make sure that we finish Mom's job on him, before he can start spying on us and peeping on the girls."

Silence reigned again for a short time, and then Naruto said, "You think we should get back in the fight?"

"Why not?"

It wouldn't be the last thing he saw that morning, but Lee would later say that he was still seeing stars from Naruto and Gaara's team drop kick to the face.

* * *

Days went by quickly after that, and other than Nabiki having to quickly suppress Kushina's Saotome instincts, not much was said about Gaara's trip. Back in the academy, both boys lead the way in average grades, though if any instructor were to pay attention to the grades, they'd notice an odd pattern in the numbers (in other words, they were controlling their own grades).

Sakura tried to keep her place as the smartest kunoichi in the class, but after so much intensive taijutsu training, she, Tenten, and Hinata were starting to learn about one of the main drawbacks of the Uzumaki training schedule: your attention span tends to get shorter the longer you sit in one place. If it wasn't for Nabiki's lecture in reading people, they would have been bored to tears. Soon, they would have a comprehensive character analysis of each of their fellow classmates, though not entirely accurate or complete.

Naruto had Nabiki's lessons much longer than they did, and he even managed to detect how Shino preferred sunny spots, despite his heavy looking coat, just by the way his insects buzzed inside him.

He also pointed out that Ami, another Sasuke fangirl who somehow made it through Kushina's gauntlet, had the makings of a closet lesbian by how she'd sometimes get lost staring at Hinata, Ino, and Tenten during sparring sessions. Oddly enough, Sakura didn't know whether to feel relieved or jealous, but after some initial discomfort, all three girls (Ino wasn't involved in this particular study) slowly came to ignore this fact.

Maybe it had to do with the four of them accidentally walking into the hot springs during a . . . rather intimate moment between their two senseis, followed by a comprehensive talk about the 'birds and bees' that had all three girls unable to look at Naruto and Gaara.

The weeks flew by, and the Genin Exams loomed ever closer. Finally, two weeks before they began, Naruto was awoken one night by a heavy knocking on the front door. Ever the light sleeper, the blond boy got up and grabbed a robe.

He opened up the door to find Hyuuga HIashi standing at the door with his daughter, Hanabi, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Good evening, Uzumaki-san. Could I trouble you to watch my youngest daughter for me? We have had some security issues come up, and I'd feel it would be much safer for her with you."

Naruto nodded mutely as the older man gently pushed Hanabi into the house and then shushined off. The small Hyuuga sleepily stumbled a bit before she looked up and gave out a loud shriek. Naruto whirled around to find his mother and Aunt, wearing naked robes, super short seifuku skirts, and nothing else.

It was obvious what they were doing before they came out.

Naruto blurred as he covered Hanabi's eyes. "MOM, AUNTIE, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON! WE GOT INNOCENT EYES IN THE HOUSE!"

Kushina and Nabiki just gave him pointed stares, otherwise translated as '. . . And your point is . . . '

Finally, Nabiki cleared her throat and asked, "So exactly why is the little Hyuuga princess here?"

The blonde shrugged, trying to guide a stunned Hanabi up the stairs without removing his hand. "Something about a security issue."

Immediately, both women froze in alarm. "In other words, a clan noted for their ability to see in all directions at one time and the fact that they have a servant house who can be assigned as permanent guards is dealing with security issues," Nabiki stated pointedly.

Naruto suddenly felt himself paralyzed as his brain started working in high gear. "Oh . . . shit!"

At this word, Kushina flew into action, "GAARA! FRONT AND CENTER! EMERGENCY PROCEDURE ALPHA!" A redheaded blur shot past them as the jinchuriki of the Ichibi flew downstairs and out the door. He was followed, at a more sedate pace, by the four girls (Sakura had taken up spending every other night to ease her aching muscles. After the first few times the pinkette collapsed at her front door, her parents weren't complaining).

"What's going on, Kushina-sensei?" asked Hinata, "and what is Hanabi-nee-chan doing here?"

Kushina ignored her for running back into her room and coming back out a few seconds later with her ninja belt at her waist, a sword strapped to her back, and pretty much the same outfit that she had on in the first place (robe and skirt). As the girls stared in shock at her pure lack of modesty, she turned to the blonde boy. "Naruto, I need you on security duty outside the shield. Nabiki, you're in charge while I'm gone. Girls, watch Hanabi for me." She then leapt downstairs and out the door.

As the others followed after her, they found the outer property being surrounded by a dome of sand that was about to close up at the top. As Kushina and fifty Naruto clones ran out of a gap between the sand (that quickly closed up after them), the real Naruto threw several kunai towards the top. As the sand closed around them, the seals on the kunai flashed and gave off a lamination like that of the moon.

Sakura ran up to Gaara, who was sitting in a meditation pose at the center of the grounds. Nabiki stopped her. "Gaara needs full concentration to keep the shield off, and if things are as bad as I fear, we will definitely have need of it."

* * *

Hanabi sat at the Namikaze kitchen table in mute shock. After Sakura had finished making sure that Gaara was alright, Nabiki had taken everyone (but Gaara) back inside to tell them what was going on . . .

About how her father was on a suicide mission to try to clear the Hyuuga of their corruption.

About how her father's chances of coming back were next to nothing.

Sure, her father may have been the greatest user of Jyuken in the history of the clan, and Uzumaki-san may be one of the premier taijutsu masters of the Elemental Nations, but they were facing the entirety of the main branch of the Hyuuga Clan! They had no chance of victory!

Note how well the Hyuuga Elders had her trained.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning Hanabi was faced with a grinning Naruto clone (he had created a few of them and had sent them running about for emergency defense). "Tenten and Hinata are sparring outside, and I figured you might want to see how your sister's training is going."

Hanabi hesitantly nodded, and followed the blonde . . . to find one of the most insane things she had ever seen!

Before, Hinata was always a bit too stiff in their family style. She was awkward and unsure, and she never seemed to do as well as Hanabi did, which was why she tended to come out on top in the sanctioned Hyuuga sibling spars that the Elders had arranged.

However, what Hinata was using was and, at the same time, was not, Jyuken.

In jyuken, every move had to be exact and strong, as if the user was a moving rock. However, Hinata seemed to be flowing from stance to stance, using a flexibility that beat anything she had ever seen before. This was matched by Tenten's rapid fire movements, quick, precise, and powerful.

The young girl stared for a bit, and then tried to activate her Byakugan to check for a genjutsu . . . when she got her second surprise- it didn't work!

Before she could panic, Naruto quipped, "It is said that there is a point on each limb and body part that correlates with the rest of the body. Hitting these pressure points in the right order, or even hitting one in the right way, can do just about anything to a person, from giving them constipation, seizures, or even a serious case of blindness. In your case, however, there are points that can be used to prevent chakra from being moved towards your eyes. These have nothing to do with tenketsu points, and can be done by anyone with an eye for accuracy."

He then turned to the wide-eyed girl, and finished with, "My mom knows each and every one of these points, giving her even the ability to prevent a person from taking a hot bath for the rest of their lives, or taking away their ability to use chakra in the first place. Do not worry; if anyone can bring your old man back, it's my mom!"

The clone then poofed away, leaving Hyuuga Hanabi standing there, watching a fight that might as well have been between chunin kunoichi rather than Academy students, as her world of superiority and stoicism crumbled.

By the time the fight was over, all that was left was a young girl who didn't even realize that she was crying until her older sister wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

For the first time since their mother's death, Hyuuga Hanabi cried.

* * *

By approximately dawn (no one could see the sun, so it was a rough estimate), Naruto tensed, and then walked over to Gaara. Tapping the redhead on the shoulder caused him to start, and then, slowly move his hands in circular motions.

As he did this, the sand dome above them sprouted small torrents that returned to the ground, filling in the massive holes that it had originally come from. Within minutes, everything looked back to normal. As the others walked outside to see what was up, they were surprised to see Nabiki sprint ahead up the path into the shadows, only to come back with a limping, blood soaked Kushina.

As the girls clustered around them to see what the news was, she smiled, and looked over to Naruto and Lee (who had, somehow, slept through most of the earlier noise due to a severe bout of exhaustion) assisting Gaara in standing.

Finally, she said, "Alright. I have good news, bad news, and news that will no doubt send the boys on a heavy –duty maintenance hike. What do you want to hear first?"

The Uzumaki siblings froze up as Tenten, Yakumo, and Sakura blinked. However, the Hyuuga sisters ignored all of this, "Is f-father OK?" Hanabi asked, in an ironic role reversal.

"Alright then, bad news first!" the redhead quipped, wincing as the two girls froze in sheer shock. "The Hyuuga clan is now short several Elders, including the majority of its council."

The facefaults were earth shattering.

As she smirked at this and Nabiki giggled, the jonin continued, "The good news, however, is that after a day or two in the hospital and a couple of months of off duty bed rest, Hiashi will be as good as new!"

Watching closely, Naruto and Gaara noted that either their mother might have gained a few cracked ribs, or Hinata and Hanabi must have some powerful bear hug technique.

"And the third piece of news?" Sakura decided to inquire. In her experience, if Naruto and Gaara were running that kind of check, then either something bad was going to happen, or something mind-scarring was about to take place.

Nabiki gained a shark-like grin as her lover explained, "For his recuperation period, I have graciously invited Hiashi to stay here under our watchful eyes, rather than the wreckage of the 'former' Hyuuga Compound."

Hinata and Hanabi's celebrating ended prematurely when a ton of Naruto clones materialized in small puffs of smoke, and Gaara leapt to his feet. Later, after a complete check and readjustment of every sound suppressing and privacy seal on the compound, Naruto would explain to what would be a badly blushing Tenten, "Mom and Auntie may be in an exclusive lesbian relationship, but both are bisexual, in that they are attracted to both guys and girls. At times, however, if they meet someone who has impressed them enough, they may decide to loosen one or both of those . . . descriptions."

He then shuddered and muttered, "Bad enough that they have the habit of doing that kind of thing out of the bedroom, I STILL have nightmares about walking in on that threesome of theirs with that guy from Kiri . . . and don't even THINK about mentioning asking Gaara about this; Kumo is being repressed for a reason . . . "

* * *

Finally, the Genin Exams rolled around as expected, and Jonin sensei from around the village gathered for pre-emptive team assignments. Each class had a list of likely candidates for graduation, and, though it was subject to change, each jonin qualified for teaching genins had a chance to outline the team they desired, as well as place recommendations for special cases.

For example, this is how Rock Lee managed to pass his exam without the ability to use Chakra at all.

Finally, the Hokage cleared his throat and called for order. "If there are any requests for team organization, please raise them now!"

Before anyone could raise a shout, Kushina's clear voice rang across the room, "I would like to ask for a team with Hyuuga Hinata, orphan TenTen, and Uzumaki Naruto."

The resulting noise was tumultuous. While it did happen from time to time, a jonin-sensei leading a team with a family member on it was frowned upon. Finally, Sarutobi managed to shut them down. "Kushina, do you have any background reasoning for this construction?"

"Yes, I do. This team would be based out of front line combat. Naruto is skilled with mid-range techniques, and has heavy duty knowledge of taijutsu to back him up. Tenten is a long-distance expert with leanings to be a weapons mistress the likes of which hasn't been seen since the fall of Uzu. Hinata, on the other hand, is purely a close-combat sort, though we have been working on trying to correct that during our Clan sanctioned tutoring sessions. These three have exceptional combat oriented skills, and the only other jonin that can help them improve on this has already been assigned a team."

Sarutobi nodded at this, but before he could reply, Danzo, who was an established member of this meeting, shot back, "And what of the odds of bias that typically come with teams such as the one you recommend, hm? We would not want one instructor working more for a genin than the other two teammates."

Kushina only smirked at this. "I have trained Naruto for most of his life. He is far more likely to train on his own with only minor pointers from me than to allow himself to be spoon-fed like more spoiled genin with to be. However, in the efforts of fairness, I would like to ask that Yuuhi Kurenai be registered as my co-instructor."

Kurenai had grown in leaps and bounds under Nabiki's tutoring, and had even created a genjutsu based off of 'The Springtime of Youth' genjutsu that Gai used to use with Lee. The scary thing was that this one, like the original, was almost unbreakable!

Then again, after Kushina had explained how the amount of ki emitted by their emotional responses was unconsciously shaped into this eye-scarring illusion, it was child's play to create one that needed an unusually high concentration of physical energy over mental energy to break.

The fact that she once reduced Kakashi into a sobbing wreck using it showed how effective it could be.

Noise erupted from the others, but due to the rather obvious reference to a certain Uchiha (who was on a team with two instructors), no one was willing to shoot her down. Finally, Sarutobi announced, "So be it! Anyone else?"

After his son, Asuma, attempted to remake the InoShikaChou Trio (for which Sarutobi held his decision on), an unexpected voice rang out "Mitarashi Anko requests that Uzumaki Gaara and Haruno Sakura be placed under my tutelage!"

The roar of the crowd was nearly deafening, but Sarutobi managed to quiet it down. Meanwhile, Koharu asked, "Mitarashi-san, you are aware that you are not yet a full jonin, are you not? Therefore, you do not have the authority to lead a full team."

The smirk that crossed 'The Snake Bitch's' face took her back, somewhat. "I'm not requesting a full team, am I?

Sarutobi managed to beat the commotion that was forming by asking, "You are aware, of course, that Genin Teams must operate with three genin and a Jonin sensei, correct?" This was not delivered in a accusatory manner, as he had a feeling that something was afoot. He was rewarded when Nabiki stepped up.

"Permission to speak, Hokage-sama?" When the old man's head nodded, she continued. "Yakumo's progress has reached the point where she could be qualified as a genin, albeit rather low on the kunoichi power-scale. I would recommend her to be allowed to work with a team, but a four-genin squad would be unorthodox. I would have arranged for her to be placed on Kushina-sama's team, but she has had her eyes on Naruto, Hinata, and Tenten for a while now. To make her a partial liaison with multiple teams would be inadvisable, as it would not allow for proper teamwork to be established. Giving Mitarashi-san a two-genin team would allow her to work with a permanent team, but also grant me the ability to act as an unofficial co-instructor."

"I would have tried to establish this team myself, but," she paused and gave a sheepish grin, "I am still chunin."

The room was quiet for a second as several of the less cooperative ninjas tried to find a loophole in this logic. However, few could even attempt to debate with the girl, and no one wanted to try it in public.

"What kind of team would this be, Anko?" Sarutobi asked.

Anko grinned in delight, "From what I have heard, the pinkette has an interest in becoming a med-nin, while Yakumo, if she is allowed to join, would be a powerful genjutsu user. Support teams tend to have a short lifespan in the field, but with Gaara's defensive capabilities and my 'unique', brand of training, we may have a team ready to back other teams up in case worse comes to worse and they have to be pulled out of a heavy combat situation."

Sarutobi held back a snort. He could see where this was going, but for the life of him, he could see nothing wrong with having the Uzumaki Clan and their 'Angels' working together throughout it all. "So be it!" he announced, taking the wind out of his advisers' sails.

The meeting droned on, and several other potential teams were made and modified. However, four women who gathered in the back of the room couldn't help but smirk at each other.

Without a doubt, they knew that their teams were going to be established.

* * *

Next time: Teams are established, D-ranks are modified for better training results, and maybe even the beginning of Wave! All this and more, coming to you in the Summer! Stay Youthful . . . and please, don't make me imagine any more Gai-based genjutsu. It's bad enough I came up with this one on the fly!


	10. Chapter 10

I own nothing, not Naruto, not Ranma, and certainly not this computer. Mine is in the shop, getting fixed while it is still under warranty.

Sorry for the delay, but the inspiration on how to begin this chapter only came to me a few days ago. I hope that this appeases you guys.

I've put up a new poll for two NGE ideas that I'm trying to prioritize. The first involves an original Shinji, who has been raised as a mercenary fighter by an eccentric group. He will have extreme fighting skills, a slim sense of humor, and an attitude that will make Gendo regret trying to railroad his son into joining a paramilitary organization.

The second involves Shinji being raised by Xander Harris and a wide variety of Slayers. Dawn Summers may also be included. His sense of humor will be greater, his weapons skills restricted to medieval style weaponry, and he will wear Hawaiian Shirts. Gendo will just regret not keeping track of his son, though Shinji will never refer to him as that.

Option 1 involves the creation of several OCs, and will more than likely keep backup focuses on Asuka and/or Rei. Option 2 will involve fewer OCs, and I can see some scenes involving Hikari and the Stooges. Both will have much violence both in and out of the Evas.

Please vote!

Oh, and flames will be used in food production. Thanks.

* * *

The Genin exams came off without a hitch, though Nabiki stepped in half way through the written part to speak to Mizuki-sensei. For some reason, he never came back in after that.

Only Naruto would know that it may have had something to do with the genjutsu both he and one of the Chunin's cat summons noticed on his exam paper.

As Sarutobi looked over the results, he marveled several things. First, the entirety of the Uzumaki clan had kept their scores around eighty percent. Considering the ninja candidates involved, this could only be intentional.

Also noticeable was the increased fitness scores in the kunoichi section. While several of the males had failed out this year's obstacle course, not one of the females flunked it. In fact, Hinata, Tenten, and Sakura scored the highest when it came to that. Ino fell behind somewhere in the middle of the pack with Yakumo, who's growth had been astronomical compared to the level she was at before.

Indeed, even the council, with their almost universal dislike for the Uzumaki clan, had been impressed.

In fact, some of them were calling for Kushina and Nabiki to take up said post almost full time. However, Sarutobi knew that they were needed out in the field. Still, didn't mean that he couldn't ask them to drop in every week or so . . .

Now, if only he could get rid of some of this paperwork . . .

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_ One week later . . . _

The sun beat harshly down upon Konoha, as nine freshly graduated genin learned the harsh truth about D ranked missions.

As expected, Naruto, Hinata, and Tenten were on the same team, under Jonin-senseis Uzumaki Kushina and Yuuhi Kurenai. They were working on tending a small herbal garden.

Gaara and Sakura were on a provisional team under Uzumaki Nabiki and Mitarashi Anko, and were joined by Yakumo, who had graduated the Genin exams in her own right. However, the young genjutsu student still had a ways to go in terms of physical training. They were digging a septic tank in a nearby lot, preparing it for new construction.

Shino, Kiba, and Ami (one of the few Sasuke fangirls who made it past the final test), were working under Shiranui Genma, a real task master. It was said that the man was an ex-Hunter nin, which was ideal in making a decent tracking patrol. They were busy picking up garbage.

Finally, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino were on a team (as expected) under Sarutobi Asuma. Ino had taken to coming over to the Uzumaki morning training more and more lately, as the lazy jonin spent most of his time working on strategy with Shikamaru. They were painting a fence.

As the four teams had somehow picked four different missions in the same vicinity, the Jonin-senseis had taken off to discuss something or other. The Uzumaki teams had a feeling that somebody was still watching them, but they paid it little attention.

"Ugh! Why are we doing this!" Ami finally screamed. "This is pointless! All we're doing is doing shit that the civilians are too lazy to do!"

Chouji, Kiba, and the female members of the large group couldn't help but grunt in agreement. Shikamaru and Shino just sighed, though the bug user was rather silent about it.

Naruto, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes, "Oh please, if this is wearing you out, then you obviously need to do more D rank missions."

"What did you say?" the fangirl shrieked, her long brown hair swishing through the air as she turned towards the blond boy.

Sadly, this left her open to a shift in the ground under her, causing her to fall on her ass. Gaara chuckled at this. "Lesson number one in terms of training: everything, no matter how odd or useless it may seem at first, can be made into training."

Ino, too tired to complain, but not too tired to gossip, paused in her work, "What do you mean, Gaara-kun?"

Tossing his shovel to the ground, the raccoon eyed redhead stepped behind the Yamanaka and gently grabbed her arm, making sure not to surprise her, less she drop her paint brush. "Keep your arm straight and bend the wrist like this. Now, brush up, brush down, brush up, brush down." He gently moved Ino's arm up and down, brushing the fence using this technique.

Said girl was far too confused to blush at the intimate contact, though that didn't stop Sakura from glaring at this, "OK, but . . . what exactly are you trying to show me here?"

"Yeah," Chouji piped up, also feeling a bit jealous, "I mean, isn't that method kind of inefficient?"

As Gaara stepped back, Naruto butted into the conversation, "Maybe, but doing that over and over again would build muscle memory for that movement, making it easier for you to use it properly when you need it."

Noticing everyone's confused looks, he grinned, "Hey Gaara! Paint the fence!" He then lunged at the redhead, throwing a powerful strike first at Gaara's head, and then one to his kidneys, both of which his brother blocked with a very recognizable move.

As the other genin goggled at this, the two Uzumaki siblings turned around and bowed, "Taijutsu training," Gaara began.

"In its purest form," Naruto finished for him.

The rest of the genin stared in awe at the demonstration, until Sakura thought of something, "Um, Gaara-kun, I can see how that could be useful, but what about digging this ditch? I can't really see many moves that would involve this movement set."

The redhead grinned, "At this stage, it's all about strength training. Every shovel full of dirt builds upon our strength and stamina, helping us to work harder, and longer."

"This stage?" Yakumo panted, exhausted but still ready to work more.

"Uzumaki training rule number two: just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there can also be more than one way something can be used as training."

Ino blinked at this, "Wait, you mean that we could do something else with this chore?"

The blond Uzumaki grinned, "Check the paint can."

Shikamaru hefted the heavy can of paint and analyzed the label owlishly. Suddenly, he blinked, and then groaned, "Oh, I should have seen this sooner . . . "

At his teammates' confused looks, he showed them the label, where it said, in bold lettering, 'water-based paint'. "My dad told me that one of the first steps in training how to use a particular element is to learn how to control it in its purest form. Since this is water-based paint . . . "

Chouji gasped, finishing his best friend's thought for him, "then a water jutsu user could paint the fence using only his or her chakra!"

The rest of the genins gawked at this, imagining being able to complete these chores effortlessly, but Shino interrupted, "I can see how Earth manipulation could be used in Septic duty," the girls winced at this, conscious of the fact that there were also D rank missions involving the emptying of such things, "and that water manipulation could be trained by painting fences with it, but what of the other elements? I can infer that trash detail could involve the wind, but . . . "

"I believe it was decided that the missions reserved for fire training would be reserved for next week, rather than have it break your spirits now." The genin jerked around and found Nabiki leaning against a nearby tree. "Don't stop working things out for little old me; I was enjoying listening to you guys figure out part of the purpose for D ranks."

Most of the genin shifted guiltily, but Naruto asked, "So, what does train lightning and fire manipulation, Auntie Nabiki? Most of the other missions were easy to infer, but I'm kind of lost on those two."

The chunin grinned, "One of the least loved missions done by genin, according to your mother, is working as cheap help in local restaurants, specifically those who cater in fast food, good service, or baking. This is done for two reasons: first, it can assist in helping you brats compartmentalize annoyances and mental trauma, as during infiltration missions, you too will have to deal with annoying people and poor situational conditions to complete your mission."

"The second is where fire manipulation comes in handy, as it is much cheaper to pay a genin or chunin hijutsu specialist to heat the ovens and stove, rather than pay for the gas and electricity itself."

Naruto, Shino, Gaara, and Shikamaru nodded thoughtfully at this, though everybody else shifted around worriedly. Nobody really wanted to have to deal with that kind of manual labor, especially in fast food joints.

"Lightning manipulation, on the other hand," Nabiki continued, "is apparently something that has grown out of style lately, due to various reasons. For those of you who need to train this skill, I'd advise speaking to local electricians. They'll pay you quite a bit for helping them find shorts and cut wires without having to cut through much of a house's walls to do so."

Ino paid special attention to this, but Ami picked up on something else. "Hey, if this is such good training, why don't more genin teams do this stuff? I don't recall seeing Sasuke and his team doing things like that."

The Yamanaka heiress couldn't help but agree, to Tenten's annoyance, but Sakura couldn't help but add, "You know, I don't recall seeing any of the older genin doing training like this. Why is that?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, bending over to work on the herb garden, "You only need a certain amount of D rank missions to be allowed to move on to C rank missions. Mom and Auntie may be happy playing around in their private bedroom for now, but most jonin would rather be out doing something, rather than babysitting genin like us."

Nabiki winced at this. Not about the slur on her and Kushina's bedroom antics, however.

She had a feeling that the blonde had overheard Kushina chewing out Hatake Kakashi for not taking care of Naruto for her and Minato, and this use of one of that one-eyed bastard's defense lines proved it.

However, she did feel the need to add, "There is also a political reason for this. Teachers who have their students ready for the real world sooner are often considered to be more successful, and this is no different. Because this kind of training can take a lot longer than fifty missions to complete, many jonin have taken to forgetting about it. Since having more ninja out on the field is considered to be a good thing, nobody in the council has spotted this problem."

Nabiki then leapt up to sit on a tree branch. "Ask your senseis for some chakra paper later, as well as the basic lessons for elemental manipulation. Meanwhile, you kids need to get back to work. I know for a fact that the Hokage will have some missions involving 'escorting the client' to do his or her daily errands. 'protecting' the client's children, and 'hunting' the elusive Tora, the cat of the Daimyo's wife tomorrow.

She was met with several groans and two eyerolls, but the genin eventually got back to work.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next couple of weeks came and left, leaving several jonin senseis dazed and confused when, out of the blue, there genin started asking for more D rank missions, and specific ones at that.

Kushina's angels were hit the hardest, however, as the redheaded jonin made a point to sit the girls down and then hand them specialized chakra paper.

Hinata's paper became wet after a few seconds, showing that she would be a water specialist. She was then handed a leaf and was told to make it wet.

Ino's and Tenten's papers crinkled and turned brown, and both girls were sent off to work on their lightning affinities by trying to do the same to a leaf.

Sakura's element was Earth, as proven when her paper started to crumble into dust. Gaara took her aside to show her how to do the same to a leaf.

Yakumo found that her element was fire, to her surprise, when her paper burst into flame. Again, she was sent off to do the same to a poor defenseless leaf.

While they did this, Naruto went to do some more advanced work on his Wind Affinity. His power was pretty good, but his fine control sucked, so he was stuck using weapons as his edge in battle until he got it up to snuff.

After a few weeks, Hinata started practicing on a fence, and proved to Kiba that, just because there is another way to do things, doesn't mean it's the easy way. She barely managed to finish her third of the work, and then accidentally splashed Tenten and Naruto, as well as herself, when Ami accidentally surprised her.

By the time the two month mark came around, everyone was exhausted, but stronger for it, if only just.

What really addled the majority of the genin, however, was how Uchiha Sasuke bragged about the C rank missions he had been on during his first three weeks as a genin, and how they were currently working on thinning the bandit hordes that typically wandered the land. Even Ino was starting to become annoyed with her crush.

Naruto and Gaara, however, just smiled enigmatically.

Today was different, however. Today, both Uzumaki boys were asked to go spar, while the girls did a special mission together.

At first, the girls were ecstatic . . . until the mission took them to a small farm just outside the Village.

When Hinata noticed how uneasy Kurenai was acting, she began to wonder. When they were lead into where the farm animals reserved for providing meat were put down, her stomach began to roll.

Kushina took the stage, holding a large turkey in her hand. "This mission is actually meant to be more of a lecture, but you will be paid if you participate. As ninja, we will eventually have to take a life. The ideal situation is to do so while protecting yourselves, each other, or the client or clients. However, there are situations where you may be assigned assassination missions in the future. Some will deserve death for their crimes, while others may be somewhat innocent, but our job is to finish the mission, and we can't be choosy about which missions we take."

"In Uzu, it was required that all Academy Students testing to be genin be taken to a slaughter house, so that they may become accustomed to dealing death. The theory is that dealing with the death of animals may help you work through the trauma of your first kill. I believe this to be true, but I also believe that taking a life, any life, should be on your own terms. I will not think less of any of you for stepping outside and not participating, as long as you understand that, no matter what you choose to do in the future, as ninja, you will have to kill someday. It is the nature of our job, after all."

When the day ended, each had eventually chosen to kill something. Hinata and Sakura could only handle killing a chicken each before having to run outside to empty their stomachs. Yakumo killed about half a dozen before she had to do the same, only managing to make it that long due to intense mental discipline built up from genjutsu training, as well as not having eaten much during breakfast.

Tenten was the only one to last more than an hour, and when she came out, she was pale faced and shaking. By the time she left that afternoon, her hands were rubbed raw from intense scrubbing.

Still, when it came time to go back in after breaking for lunch (only the senseis could stomach anything), each chose to go back in and do some more.

By the time they came home, each genin girl was sick to their stomachs, and not willing to look each other in the eyes.

They were met by Naruto and Gaara, who had prepared a small meal. While both boys forced the four girls to eat (Shadow clones-so many uses), Naruto began telling a tale about their first hunt, and how Gaara had cried when a trap he had set had killed a white rabbit one winter.

Gaara immediately countered by telling how Naruto sobbed over helping to cook a deer his trap had caught the next day.

Soon, this escalated into telling embarrassing stories of each other on the road, helping the girls to forget their day.

Nabiki, on the other hand, was forced to drag Kushina away, before genetics rose its ugly head. She herself was wondering where her redheaded lover kept getting her fans for her insane periods.

Ah genetics. Such a terrifying concept . . .

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

At three months, the genin of Teams Uzumaki entered the Hokage's office.

Nabiki's team had done on spot work with several other teams, including the team under Kakashi and Gai. This had the unwanted side effect of having Sasuke try and pester Kushina for training. He was turned away, as Kushina was unwilling to allow a Uchiha to steal her Clan's techniques.

When he came back with the support of the Council, she started getting bitchy, and several of its members were sent to the hospital, including Sakura's mother.

When the woman started insulting the Uzumakis, and tried to get her daughter removed from Nabiki's team, the Namikaze manor gained another permanent boarder.

The day before today, a small incident was caused over by the public hot springs when Gaara and Naruto chased a tall, white haired man out of Konoha. Some people thought that it was Jiraiya that they were chasing, but nobody could be sure.

As Sarutobi started going over the D rank missions that were available (Tora hunting, grocery shopping for an elderly civilian, babysitting, escorting another elder for a day), Kurenai cleared her throat, "Hokage-sama, I believe that our genin are ready for a C rank mission today."

The female genin jerked around, eyes wide with surprise and anticipation. Naruto and Gaara just eyed the woman expectantly.

The Hokage just coughed into his hand, "Are you certain, Kurenai-san, Kushina-san?

Both jonin nodded their heads, as did Nabiki and Anko, who was grinning wildly.

"Alright then," the Hokage said as he started digging through the papers on his desk, "Let's see . . . ah, here we go. We have an escort mission still here, to Nami no Kuni over the duration of several weeks. Which one of you would like this one?"

Anko was about to eagerly raise her hand when it was intercepted by Nabiki, who was looking somewhat pensive. When the tokubetsu jonin and Kushina looked at her, she nodded, and then said, "Hokage-sama, I have heard reports that Nami is in a state of unrest, if not upheaval at this time. May I advise that we send both teams out to investigate this?"

Sarutobi blinked, "Well, they only had enough money to pay for one . . . "

"If what I fear is true, then we may have a chance to pick up some more cash on the way, Hokage-sama."

The old man nodded hesitantly, "Alright, but I also have a scouting mission that I was hoping you would take, involving reports of a moderately large horde of bandits to the East . . . also, I believe the Academy is looking into more kunoichi lessons, and we have yet to find a suitable replacement . . . "

Anko scowled at this, as she did not want to get stuck teaching some snot nosed brats (her own genin squad excluded), but Kushina replied, "Then Anko and I can take the genin out on this mission, and we can scout for these bands on the way there and back. Kurenai can help Nabiki set up a better curriculum for the kunoichi classes, one that should allow for more girls to stay in at the end without losing its integrity."

"That would be acceptable, thank you," the Hokage announced, "Nanami-san, you may send in the client."

The door opened to allow an old man to enter, carrying a jug of alcohol. The grey haired man glanced over the group, "What the hell is this? I asked for a team of ninja, not a bunch of brats and a couple of prostitutes!"

The four genin females glared at the man, and Anko had to be held back from strangling him, but the Uzumakis only stared at him impassively. Kushina stepped up to him, "You paid for a team of ninja to accomplish a C rank mission for you. We are giving you a deal by sending two for the price of one. Please try not to make us want to fail this mission, please."

The man quailed under Kushina's impassive stare, and then straitened up, nodding, "A-alright then. When will you be ready to leave?"

"Give us two hours, and we will meet you by the main gates." Kushina then nodded to the genin, who sprinted out the door, Kurenai and Anko following after them.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

After settling the last few points of the mission, Nabiki and Kushina took a slower pace back home.

The redheaded jonin turned to her lover to ask, "So, what have your sources told you about Nami, 'biki-koi?"

The brunette nodded at Kushina, "According to reports, a business man named Gato has laid a massive embargo on Nami. He has driven the residents there to poverty, but other than that, I have nothing else on the island. There is evidence that his shipping company may be a front for a prostitution and smuggling ring, but nothing concrete and usable has been found as of yet. There are also reports of several groups of missing nin being hired by him and then going missing or getting turned in for their bounties."

Kushina frowned, "So this mission may be underranked."

"Maybe, but would you let this guy continue to do this if you could stop him?"

"Touche. I'll see what the genin decide to do after the first major skirmish. This may turn interesting. Would you like to be reverse summoned when we go looking for bandits?"

"Yes please!" Nabiki enthused, "It's been a while since we had any fun like that!"

"True, though we have been having other fun!"

Nabiki playfully swatted at her lover, "Hentai no baka!"

Kushina grinned salaciously, "Then what does that make you, koi?"

From there, the two ninja took to the roofs, playing an intricate game of tag over the heads of the civilians.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

NEXT UP: The mission to wave begins. Enemies turn allies, and new enemies arise. Stay tuned!


	11. Chapter 11

I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm . . . . BAM!

Sorry about that. This past semester has been Hell times ten, and my muse has been completely ignored for the horrors of studying. It's not quite sane anymore . . . then again, was it ever?

This was meant to come out in December, but my computer crashed and accidently deleted half of this, meaning that I had to force myself to write it all over again. Not fun.

Anyways, some notes: My R½/DC cross is going on hold for a bit. Ever since the free scanlation sites went down, my research material is out. I'll get it from another source, but that's going to take some time. Be patient, and you'll get more.

Time Traveling Martial Artists will be by next major update, along with Saotome Shinji. I think I have enough data to start making my own stuff up for that.

Furthermore, if you want more of me, check out Anime Addventure. When the stress got too hot at FSU, I wrote up 1-3 pages and posted it to continue some threads from there. Look for A Wandering Soul, and you'll find my additions. It's where I test out new ideas and the like.

The next series of updates will be much sooner, and I'll try and keep it up for as long as I can. Thanks for being so patient!

Oh, and I owe the state about $5000 in college loans. You want to try something legal for using characters from other works for my own twisted amusement, you can have that debt.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The two ninja teams left the gate at a brisk walk, Naruto and several clones going on ahead to scout things out, while Gaara took the rear defensive position, as his ultimate defense would take care of any threat under jounin level. Hinata periodically scouted out the area using her byakugan, in between fretting about her sister and her still crippled father.

Finally, Kushina rolled her eyes at the young genin. "For the last time, Hinata: your Pops and your sister will be fine! Hiashi can hobble around enough to take care of himself, and Nabiki can take care of them if anything arises."

"But who's going to take care of the kitchen and stuff! The Branch House does all the cooking, and with them revolting now that no one is oppressing them . . . "

"Oh please," Anko scoffed, "At the worst, they'll just have to eat a lot of instant ramen . . . " Both Kushina and Hinata stumbled to a halt and looked at her, faces pale and eyes wide in terror, "What did I say?"

"Th-the last time Father ever tried to make anything . . . oh Gods!" Hinata sobbed, collapsing to her knees.

"That man could burn water! He tried to do something romantic for Mitsu-chan . . . a simple picnic meal . . . "

Hinata jerked up, staring at her sensei in wonder and horror, "He . . . he what?"

The redheaded woman nodded solemnly, "The fires raged on for an entire day before we could put it out . . . it was passed off as a training accident gone wrong . . . your mother thought it was kind of cute, but from then on, she always did the cooking . . . "

Anko blinked, "Are you serious? I mean, surely . . . "

"I AM serious, and DON'T CALL ME SHIRLEY!" Anko jerked back, as if stung. "Thankfully, Nabiki knows enough about cooking for them to survive, so there shouldn't be any problems. At least she took after her older sister, rather than her younger sister."

The other genin stared as Hinata sighed in relief, rose, and composed herself. Kushina, on the other hand, just started walking again, as if nothing happened. This continued on for about another half hour, until someone asked the obvious question.

"Nabiki-sensei has sisters?"

Again, Kushina stumbled, before whirling around to stare at Yakumo, who had asked the question.

Tazuna started to feel like he was in the middle of what should have been a private conversation.

Kushina stared at the brunette for what seemed like minutes, making the poor girl feel very uncomfortable. Finally, when she was about to collapse and apologize for whatever fault she had committed, when finally, the older woman sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"Na-chan is a very private person, and her family is a sore spot for all of us. Let's just say that they had issues and leave it at that. All you need to know in this case is that her older sister was the only one that ever treated me with any kindness and was one of the best cooks I have ever met. Her younger one . . . could turn even a salad into the worst non-lethal poison known to man. You will not mention this conversation to Nabiki, and you will ask no more questions about the topic, understand?"

This last part was focused on the genin around her, but she also sent a potent look at a Naruto clone that had been lurking beside the group. The clone gulped, and then nodded his understanding.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The Oni Kyoudai were ready to pounce on their prey as the group came by.

First to pass was the Hyuuga girl. Both men grinned at the ease at which she had passed, for it was obvious that they weren't found out. Such a foolish girl . . . still, the body on that one . . .

The pale brunette followed after her, lazily chatting with the blunette in front of them. It was truly a shame that such innocent looking children were made ninja. Almost enough to make them want to spare them . . . NOT!

However, it was when the girl with the odd looking buns on her head passed that their plan went to pieces. The moment she passed by the puddle genjutsu they were hiding under, she pivoted fluidly and hurled a kunai with an armed explosion tag attached at them. The two brothers barely had enough time to dive out of the way before they were caught. In the rush, they were forced to detach the chain that linked their clawed gauntlets together.

At once, Gozu was met with a face full of Hyuuga fury. He barely had time to dodge her first few feints, but when he tried to swipe at her with his poisoned claws, she ducked, setting her weight on both arms, and then slammed a chakra fueled kick right into his groin.

Meanwhile, Meizu was hit with a confounding genjutsu. It was simple enough to break, but when he did, he only had the chance to see a rage powered fist slamming right into his nose, knocking him into his brother.

Both men growled, pissed off at their apparent humiliation, but froze when two rather large serpents slithered around them. Immediately, they felt the immense crushing pressure that only constrictors can supply.

"So," the Demon Brothers looked up to verbally rip into their opponents, only to pale at the violet haired kunoichi in front of them. She was rather well known for being a nasty specialist in the Konoha Torture Division, "The Oni Kyodai, two B level Kiri chunins with a rather nice looking bounty . . . how 'bout you boys tell me what you two were after here, hm?"

"Oh, I know exactly what their after, Anko-chan." If anything, that voice filled them with even more terror than the Snake Bitch of Konoha could.

The Uzumaki clan, while having been virtually wiped out over a decade ago, was known to be rather vicious to those who crossed them. Uzumaki Kushina though . . . there was a reason they called her the Akai Chishio no Habenero . . . it was not JUST because of her temper!

She knelt down in front of them and smirked, "You know, boys, I could have sworn you two were pretty gung-ho about going back and fixing Kiri for the best. What happened?"

Both men swallowed harshly as Anko turned to Kushina in surprise, "You know these two?"

Gaara's familiar voice found its way into the conversation, "We met them while we were hanging out over by Kiri some odd years ago. Apparently, they were part of a group trying to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage on grounds of tyranny or something like that."

Gozu cleared his throat, "That kinda thing takes money, ya know? We got word of a high paying job, and we took it. I mean, all we had to do was kill a measly old man, and we'd get a fortune-enough to get our operation going!"

"We didn't know we'd be against you and your gang! We'd never have touched this job if we knew, honest!" Meizu chimed in.

Anko couldn't help but snipe, "Sounds like you guys have quite the reputation."

Her redheaded compatriot blushed and looked away, "It's mostly just controlled rumor mongering. The whole thing involving the pepper and string thing is mostly conjecture, though Na-chan does have a genjutsu based off of it."

"Pepper and string thing?"

"You mean you've never heard of it? It was supposed to be a big deal back in Uzu . . . you see you take a pepper, attach it to a string-"

"MOTHER!"

Kushina couldn't help but laugh at Naruto and Gaara's horrified faces. "Oh alright, I'll tell Anko-chan about it later." She then turned to the two missing nin before them. Alright, Anko and I are going to leave you here for the Konoha Anbu to pick you up. Be nice, and I'll try and put a good word in with the Hokage. We have been kind of short on true assassination specialists, plus I also owe a few favors to Mei-chan, so I can see what we can do to help Mizu while we're at it."

She then signaled the group to move several yards down the road, where she gave Tazuna a pointed look. "Alright, I think it's time you explained why you hired genin ninja for a C-ranked mission when it would at least require B-ranked pay."

The old man had been listening in on the impromptu interrogation, and had seen the true terror in the eyes of these males when they beheld the ladies holding them prisoner. He also didn't want to find out about what this pepper technique entailed.

He sang like a canary.

The ninja soon learned of how Nami no Kuni was in dire straits. About how Gato, the magnate of a large shipping firm, had set up in Nami, and then raised outrageous embargos against the residents, taking care to block all other means of supplying food and other basic needs to the island.

He told of a man, his son-in-law, who was brutally murdered before the inhabitants of Nami's eyes, breaking his daughter's heart and his grandson's spirit in the process, all on the orders of Gato.

He told them how his bridge was the only thing that could save his family, his people, and then got down on his hands and knees and begged them to help out.

By the time he finished, Hinata and Yakumo were in tears, Tenten was fingering her kunai, and Sakura was in budding fury. Naruto and Gaara, on the other hand, were stoic in their silence.

Anko sighed, "I say we turn back." At the outraged cries of the four girls, she snapped, "Hey, we have no idea what we're getting into! We could very well be walking into our deaths for Kami's sake!"

Kushina nodded, "Maybe, but such is the life of a shinobi. As Konoha nin, we have a reputation for being humanitarians; to turn back now would be a mark against us."

"All we have with us are six genin! For a mission like this, an ANBU assassination squad would be better! Hell, I could probably get rid of Gato on my own, but having to watch over six brats while doing it?"

"Two of these brats are my children, trained in some of the best taijutsu and ninjutsu styles Uzu and I had to offer. The other four are well on their way to learning some high class stuff that would cause fear in the hearts of most shinobi. By turning back, we'd be allowing Gato more time, time that he could spend gaining the ear of Kumo and the current regime in Kiri. With his resources, there's no telling what they could do! Kumo already had their eyes on the Byakugan, and I know that there are still some factions who want nothing more than Hinata and her sister as their prisoners! Kiri, on the other hand, has no love for Konoha at this point, and I'm pretty sure Iwa would love to join them in starting the next Great Ninja War!"

Anko narrowed her eyes, "You know something."

"Damn right I do! I'm still waiting for Nabiki to confirm her sources, but from what we know so far, Gato has been funding several black market groups, including several drug smuggling, slave trading, and prostitution rings that have been quite active at this time. Some of the drugs that have been linked to his dealings are also drugs that have also been linked to Orochimaru's illegal operations. There have even been reports of supplies sent there that may have gone to supply his labs. Those shipments haven't been made in a while, but there is still a good chance of finding something there."

The violet haired woman couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the name of her former sensei, "Are you sure of this?"

"Nabiki is rarely incorrect in her findngs. She'll have more info for us later tonight."

The younger woman sighed, and then, to the cries of jubilation from the female genin, she announced, "Looks like we're going to Nami."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The small group continued on towards their destination, Sakura relentlessly grilling Tazuna on Nami's current state of affairs. Having been primarily trained by Nabiki, the girl knew how vitally important information could be.

Eventually, they made it to the sea, where a lone fisherman waited for them. Kushina lazily walked on the water beside the craft while everyone else sat inside, Gaara sulking in the center due to his element's weakness against water.

Finally, they reached the shores of Nami no Kuni. The fog was as thick as pea soup, and the trees seemed tall and forbidding.

Naruto simply sent about fifty of his shadow clones in and then shrugged, "Can't see much of anything in there. I think I just lost two clones just because they couldn't see in front of them."

Kushina grimaced, "Call them off then. If we can't trust them to see anything, then we're better off taking the small, silent route. Use your keener sense of hearing to watch out for ambushes. Gaara, if anything leaps out at us, cut it out at the pass. Ladies, surround our client, please."

The Snake Mistress lead the team alongside Naruto, followed by Kushina's Angels and their client, and ended with Kushina and Gaara. Things carried on normally for half an hour, until Naruto flung a kunai into a bush several yards ahead of him.

He followed after it with wild abandon, katana suddenly appearing in one hand, only for him to yell out, "Code Yellow, Mom, Code Yellow!"

Tenten blinked at that, "Code Yellow?"

Her redheaded sensei nodded as Naruto carried out a small, white rabbit. "Code Yellow: no major danger as of yet, but preparation is vital as of this instant."

Anko blinked at her, "It's only a rabbit; what's so important about a rabbit?"

"Yakumo, you're our genjutsu specialist-what's wrong with this picture?"

The pale brunette furrowed her brow at the animal in Naruto's arms for a minute, and then gasped, "It's Spring! Native rabbits are only white in the Winter to hide from predators! "

Naruto and Gaara suddenly twitched, and they immediately tackled the girls closest to them, the blonde shifting the rabbit so that it wouldn't get hurt on impact. Anko grabbed Tazuna and threw him to the floor before following after him. Kushina shushined to safety just in time to dodge a large zanpakuto that was flying through the air at them.

As Anko, Tazuna, and the genin looked up, they found that sword impacted into the back of a thick tree. On top of it stood a man in dirty gray pants and camouflage boots and fingerless gloves. His face was masked by bandages over his mouth and black, shaggy hair hooding his eyes. "So, they sent the Snake Bitch of Konoha and a bunch of brats for this mission . . . interesting."

"Momochi Zabuza," Anko growled, a feral smirk on her face, "the Kirigakure no Kijin. Wanted by Kiri for the attempted assassination of the Yondaime Mizukage. So you're working with Gato as well?"

"What can I say, he's paying a hell of a lot of money for this gig," Zabuza grunted, "Now, if you'll just hand over the old coot, I'll be nice and NOT kill the kids over there. How 'bout it?"

His sudden wave of killing intent shook Kushina's Angels to their core, making them sweat and shake in terror. Before Anko could fire a retort however, Zabuza jumped as if stung. Leaping off his sword, he turned to find . . . "

"You know, Zabuza-kun, that must be a pretty hefty paycheck on your mind to make you overlook little old me, not to mention my boys over there."

The girls of the group couldn't help but gape at that, and then looked towards the boys for information. It was only then that they noticed them hiding their heads in their hands, muttering threats against the Kamis for the torture that was soon to come upon them. The white rabbit sitting up Naruto's head seemed to join them in their supplications.

"Kushina!" Zabuza gaped at the woman, "I thought . . . but . . . "

"I may have issues with some of the Council there, but Konoha has always been and will always be my home. I had friends there; some of them still living, and others leaving their kids behind. It is my duty to them and to my village to ensure that they are taken care of," the kunoichi told the man in front of her, "Still, I never thought I'd see the day when you'd work with a black market slaver."

"Black market . . . that Gato creep is just a greedy business man! Sure he's got a bunch of mercenaries on call, but he's not a slaver . . . is he?"

"Nabiki is confirming it as we speak, but the amount of rumors tying him to drug, slave, and prostitution rings doesn't paint a pretty picture."

Zabuza's mouth seemed to move under those bandages over it for several moments, but nothing seemed to come out. Finally, he sighed and slammed the palm of his left hand into his forehead. "Damnit! How was I supposed to know!"

"You weren't. Now that you know though, what are you going to do about it?"

As Anko and the Angels flickered between the sobbing boys and the two jounin level ninja, they were startled to find a white masked figure with long black hair tied in a bun on top of its head walking towards them. Before they could react, it grabbed the rabbit from on top of Naruto's head, glanced at the two figures talking several yards away, and then groaned, "Please Kami, not again!"

Gaara, face still hidden behind his hands, grunted, "Nice to see you to, Haku-chan."

The person giggled, taking off its mask to reveal a feminine face with dark brown eyes. "True, though I'd rather meet again in a place with plenty of silencing seals for those three."

"Two, actually," Naruto muttered, "Auntie Nabiki is back at Konoha taking care of business right now."

"Really? I didn't think she'd miss something like this."

"Mom swore that she'd summon her afterwards to tackle some bandit gangs on the way back. Anko-sensei is acting in as sensei in her place."

"Ah," The girl smiled at the other females around her, "Hi, my name is Momochi Haku, Zabuza-sama's adopted daughter. Nice to meet you!"

Anko blinked owlishly at the girl and then grunted, jerking a thumb over at the two jounin, "Mind explaining what that's about?"

Before she could answer, Naruto grunted, "Little known fact: The Devil of the Hidden Mist may be a ruthless killer, but he's got a soft spot for kids, especially orphans and victims. Mom and Auntie met him awhile back, and after they kicked his ass, they ended up getting drinks and talking about stuff." The boy shivered and then sobbed, "We never got a bit of sleep that night, or the night after . . . damnit!"

The whimpering almost made the girls giggle. Almost.

Several nights after the massacre at the Hyuuga compound, one of the silencing arrays around the elders' room malfunctioned. Sleep was short that night for everyone.

Hanabi was still having night terrors about it.

"So, what's up?" Haku asked.

Gaara shrugged, looking up from his hands finally, "Not much. Visited Sunagakure, hung out with my brother and sister again, had a nice long talk with my Uncle, came back home . . . did a bunch of D-ranks with my new team . . . slept, ate, and kicked some ass. What else would there be?"

Haku giggled again, "That's good. Zabuza-sama and I have been taking random bounties and jobs. This creep Gato called us a couple of weeks ago offering enough money to finance another strike on Kiri's old regime, so we ended up coming over here . . . though from the looks of it, we can forget that."

"Hm . . . maybe we can split part of this guy's fortune with you? Odds are that, after we off him, we'll end up raiding his treasury to make up what this mission should have cost. Considering all that he's done, there ought to be plenty more where that came from."

"Um, Gaara-kun, aren't we supposed to be protecting Tazuna-san? Why would we assassinate Gato?" Sakura asked.

Naruto snorted, "Odds are good that he'll try and set up some sort of ambush to take us by surprise, and then right after he makes his last move, he'll come and gloat about it. Seeing that this guy seems to have a lot of mercenaries on his payroll, he'll probably use them. We can take them with an arm tied behind our backs!"

"True, but it is unwise to count our chickens before they hatch," Gaara intoned.

The sunkissed blonde just grunted at this.

Suddenly, Gaara blinked and then flashed through five hand seals. Slamming his palms to the floor, he produced a bit of smoke and a black tabby cat with a message scroll on its back, who stalked towards Kushina and Zabuza. Kushina, noticing this, reached down to pick it up, retrieving the scroll as she did so.

She then opened the scroll, looked at it for a few moments, and then passed it over to Zabuza, who did the same. Cursing harshly, the man closed it, tossed it back to Kushina, and then went to retrieve his zanpakuto.

The redheaded jounin jogged back to her team, "Good news: Na-chan has confirmed Gato's ties to the Black Market, as well as the fact that he has a Oinin squad heading this way to collect Zabuza's head. He's agreed to drop the contract on grounds of betrayal by client."

"And I've decided to follow you and your brats around for a bit," the man grunted, stalking towards them, "Kumo-hime listed the description of the bastard leading the team, and it sounds too close to describing a guy I know to not be him. I've got a score to settle with him, so I might as well join in and make sure you guys aren't in over your heads."

Naruto, Gaara, and Haku groaned, looked at each other, and then groaned again. Anko, on the other hand . . .

"Hold up just a second! This guy was just trying to kill our client, and now you want to team up with him? What the fuck?"

Kushina giggled at the dumbstruck look on the Tokubetsu jounin. "Even thieves have honor, Anko-chan. We kept Zabuza from meeting a nasty end, so he's indebted to us. Plus, a man who double-crosses a nuke-nin, on average, doesn't tend to live long. Besides, he may not look like it, but he's just a big softy at heart!"

Zabuza just growled and swiped at the woman, only for her to duck under it and stick her tongue out at him. Naruto just shook his head and motioned for Gaara to help drag the genin kunoichi and Tazuna ahead of them. Haku fell in beside Gaara, and started striking up a conversation with the boy.

Sakura couldn't help but glance back at the two of them; feeling like her heart was being twisted. The familiar feeling of jealousy settled in her stomach. Naruto, noticing this as he continued ushering Yakumo, Tenten, and Hinata up the path, couldn't help but mutter a curse at the Saotome name.

Somehow, he just knew that they were related to the poor bastard. Who else would have this much bad luck?

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

COMING UP NEXT: The Mist Hunter Ninja arrive! The girls (and Naruto and Gaara) go through some nasty (yet familiar) training. Oh, and sleepless nights . . . don't forget about that . . .

And soon . . . we meet our first . . . well, third Ranma character in the Narutoverse . . . pity her, please!


End file.
